How many have you played?

[Indy Anna Jones]

Tough question David. As I said I "walked" the courses and ended up keeping about 650 and have added an additional 30 or so in the past 18 months.
I guess one thing to do is to download Dar's course by designer spreadsheet. IMO there are quite a few designers that it's hard to go wrong with because most of their efforts are good or very good although some of their early efforts might not make the "b" list. My faves:
You
Robert@
Robert Wagers
Terry Grayson
Bobby Jones
JJ (only 2, but really good)
Adam Brandt
DanO Bunch
Bryce
Dammpa (old school, but several really nice ones)
Ezymny2001
Gabagoo
Gary $1n2
Chuck Gunsaullus
Steve Horn
Craig Johnson
KSCB6499
Robear LeBranche
Stephan Lawinski
Mr. Whiffle
Ogilvey2
Pablo
PingKing
Pyecraft
Dale Somerfelt
Spencer Turner
Me

[Polslad]

Aw shucks Indy!
You flatter me.
Blush!

[sandwedge]

I like to play courses that look like they would actually exist in real life - so not just the recreations but realistic fictitious courses as well. My rule of thumb is that if I download it and it looks impossible to mow then I discard it. I have let a few courses go for that reason - I just can't get into playing on courses that wind you up and turn you around, have a plerotha of blind shots, have extreme elevations or just unrealistic scenery. That is not golf to me - just hyped up video game challenge. I see no reason to have a course hard just for difficulty sake. For one thing it keeps folks like me from playing it. For another thing a course can be set up to provide a challenge for different levels. If you want to make the back tees 700 yards from the hole then go ahead, just leave me a tee area that is a legitimate one as well. If you want to put a tree in play than do so but remember the guys that can't hit it far enough to avoid where you placed it. I hope this doesn't sound like complaining - but I wanted to say David had a good point and it is probably one reason I will never play all of the courses available for download presently

I don't think I have a list of favorite designers because I actually think that a designer can improve. My first work was horrible and my second effort was, well horrible, but I hope that it will not remain that way One day I might release a course to the public - but I tell you, it's a scary thought The trouble with an A list or even a B list is that we tend to leave a designer on that list - thereby potentially neglecting or overemphasizing their future efforts. I think Bryce is a recent example of just how good a designer can get over time. The community right now is sensitive to this - but it has not always been. I will be here as long as we give a designer time and room to grow. That way we will end up with 1600 quality courses from a variety of perspectives!

[Indy Anna Jones]

Sadly time goes on. The majority of the designers on my list are no longer active, so I guess it's safe to say they've gotten as good as they're going to get unless some happen to return.

I'm going to add one more to the list that I missed:
Babybull Conner

[Robert@]

Nothing will get your past work played again more then uploading a new one will.

[JaxDuffer]

I try to keep my course list manageable. I have 84 loaded. I delete a lot of courses. I d/l about 1 out of every 3 or 4. What gets you deleted and what gets you d/l'ed are the same criteria. Is it original? Does it look fun, was it fun to play? I typically delete courses that are way too hard or have faults in the greens. I hate feeling ripped off when I play the game to reduce stress at work during lunch.

I've noticed my tastes in courses tend to go down 4 roads:
- course really captures the essence of "being there". Some courses make me feel like I'm back in West Virginia, or at the beach, or out west.
- real course I've seen on TV and want to play as well
- easy course that you can play with your brain half engaged (I call these Ceour D"Alene courses)
- completely ridiculous fake courses that mentally take me away. Just so much fun (Alien Adventures, Who Built this Dog Track?)

[Indy Anna Jones]

Here are a couple more courses that fit your "ridiculous" catagory:

Big Break Xtreme by Bryce. Definitely just a fun thing to play; kind of an obstacle course.
Rock of America by Robert@. Beautiful course of tall mesas, but no one would ever grade it high for being real.

There's a third I know of but the name escapes me. I'll update when I remember it.