Here is what Thomas had to say about this hole in Golf Architecture in America, pp. 52,55:
"The strategy of golf is the thing which gives the short accurate player a chance with a longer hitter who cannot control his direction or distance. It is this factor which permits the brilliant putter the opportunity of recovery; but the flat greens, or the greens with only slight roll, do not supply this interest, for on such nearly everyone is able, as a rule, to go down in two putts, or to hole reasonably long ones.
. . .
The poorest of all holes are the short two shotters, where a missed first shot allows a recovery to the green that is only a mediocre shot. By reducing the size of the green, by tilting it up from one side to the other, or back or front, so as to require a placement or the drive for a shot which can be played toward the higher part, by making it narrow and long with the opening opposite the carrying trap, it is easy to insist a fine first shot to make the second one reasonably possible. . . This arrangement is most difficult to accomplish In short two shotters.
The more exacting the test, the more skillful will be the golfers developed; but a really fine test for a long player is likely to make the second shot too penalizing for the short man, especially on short two shotters.
A partial answer to this problem is found by the 300 yard new No. 10 at Los Angeles Athletic Club course, where the green is narrow, yet opens in the line of the short player, but is raised several feet above the adjacent fairway, and with no traps near it. This makes it very difficult for the short man to hold the green; yet he is not punished by traps close by, while the long man must produce a fine second to bold the putting surface unless his drive is an exceptionally long ball."