I see a Nor Cal vs. So Cal argument forking off of this by the time there are 75 posts.
And I've never been to Cali, so I'm not gonna talk smack on their courses. That being said, I do know of several Midwestern tournament players who have gone out there who were a bit less than impressed with the scene, most often citing courses being overcrowded and run down as their primary complaint.
I suppose the moral here is when you're blessed with something (great terrain, nice amenities, bountiful number of courses per population) in your back yard, you tend to take it for granted and speak disparagingly when you don't see it elsewhere. When there's some cross you have to bear (overcrowding, erosion, litter), you tend to get used to it, accept it as "normal" until you go someplace else and find out its not that way everywhere.