Policy dipping

With Cultural Victory reworked and at least one benefit of a Finisher (Piety) moved further down the tree, I find myself "dipping" into Policy trees a lot more than I did in G&K. I'll still finish Tradition for free Aqueducts if I'm already 4 policies in; and I'll do the same for the free GP in Liberty if I only have 2 policies to go, but I find myself increasingly going 1-3 policies into a tree and then going elsewhere permanently.

Honor: the Barbarian Camp alert is priceless for defending early to mid game trade routes, especially the long range lucrative Sea Routes. The culture payback makes it hurt less as an early policy. Unlocking Statue of Zeus is a nice bonus on top to sweeten the deal. Getting the Great General for free is awesomesauce. Just the thing to snag that elusive strategic Coal that's just outside your borders.

Tradition: I often open Tradition, but even when I don't, the Hanging Gardens is a remarkable incentive to go one in here if the wonder is still open. As a bonus, I can pick up free Opera Houses or Museums later on with an additional one dip.

Aesthetics: Uffizi alone is a good reason to dip here for Tall Civs with not enough Museum slots to go around.

Exploration: Another good one for dipping. I don't always want a Great Admiral or Treasure Fleets, but I sometimes want Louvre, +sight and movement, and Maritime Infrastructure if I have 75% coastal cities.

Piety: Reformation and the nature of the Piety policies makes Piety slippery. I often don't take a single policy, but when I do take the initial one, having lots of Shrines and Temples make the additional policies down the line more attractive. I find this a "finish" or "don't take" tree.

Yes, I tend to dip into piety (cheap shrines are great) and exploration as well--seldom want the whole tree but sometimes a small part is useful to the situation.

I pretty much agree with the OP, and find the reworked SP trees a great improvement - my thoughts (mainly centred on the openers):

Tradition - if you plan to use it at all then i find the earlier you get the opener the better. I often open with it, maybe grab Aristocracy if I want an early wonder or two, then wander of to one of the other policies for a bit until I've built 4 cities with monuments. Then I'll grab Legalism for 4 amphitheatres to help set me up for culture and tourism.

Honor - I don't often fill it up unless I'm playing the Aztecs or Zulu or similar civs, however I do find the opener to be more than the sum of its parts, especially with the increase in barbs in BNW. One of my favoured strategies is to barb farm for culture until a CS asks me for assistance, then kill them off, Honor allows me to do this with a few specialised units.

Aesthetics opener - yeah definitely, for the combination of Uffizi but more importantly the 25% across the board increase in GWAM production. I find you just can't afford to neglect Tourism and Culture at the higher levels so will try and get all 3 guilds built (normally in different cities) so this is like 3 gardens to me.

Piety opener - not so much so by itself, but much more useful when immediately followed by Organised Religion for super early shrines and guaranteed religion with whichever Pantheon you want. I agree that if you go this way you are eventually going to want to finish the tree, I find it extremely powerful now.

Liberty - never worth it just for the opener (obviously), unless you plan to go a fair way down the tree (at least for the free worker and settler), in which case you'll want to complete for the free GP
anyway.

Commerce - not so much nowadays with the reduction in gold from your capital (I think I'm correct in saying trade routes don't count when calculating this). I'll tend to only go commerce if I intend to complete it, not so much for the finisher but for the two late heavy hitters (Mercantilism and Protectionism).

Exploration - for me the opener is not up to much, but the potential star is the free 6-move GA just down the line. On water maps this can make exploring the map so much easier and quicker, with the benefits of trade routes and luxury trading with faraway civs, maybe sighting some undiscovered ruins, potential allying with new City States and snagging the World Congress host job, without needing to go down the Navigation path.

Patronage opener - yeah possibly along with Consulates, if I don't intend to go Diplomatic but fancy my chances of getting "friends with benefits" for a good number of CS for a good portion of the game.

Rationalism - a well deserved nerf, but I'd still not say no to 10% Science, the thing is now there are so many more choices at this point of the game it is no longer a no-brainer.