Tom,
Please pardon me for this quick aside. I dont understand why you repeatedly rehash how you've been unfairly maligned regarding this topic in the past. I've enjoyed our discussion, but I am starting to wonder if just maybe I am being played the fool, and if you just might be more interested in baiting the usual suspects. I think dropping the martyr talk would likely go far in keeping us all on the right track, and will also leave no doubt that this is really about your genuine curiosity regarding the course.
In response to your comments regarding specific holes.
2: Tom you keep using my name to support you view that the hole doesnt work when it is soft, and that it often is soft. I think you must have missed my response to your earlier post, where you attributed this view to me, then asked me whether your summary of my position was 'close.'
Tom, I am afraid you are not very close at all. In fact, I am having trouble getting how you could come to these conclusions based on what I said. RC 2 has "worked" just fine every time I have played it or seen it played. As for the line from the right "ceasing to exact any penalty whatsoever" where on earth did I say that?
The line on the right is always a much more difficult shot than the line on the left. I have never seen it so soft that one need not worry about the possibility of the ball releasing through the green. In fact, I cannot imagine a situation where trying to carry onto the green and stop the ball from the right would be a percentage play, just about from any distance, at any time of day. When I say that it is sometimes wet and overwatered, I am not saying that the ball will stick or plug (I've never seen a ball plug at RC); it just might not run every time like we would like it to. And, except on rare occasions, it dries up pretty early in the day. This, by the way, presents its own set of problems on this particular shot, because if you play it to run alot and it doesnt, you aren't left with the easiest shot.
I also think that I said that, as to my comments regarding the watering, I usually play around 6 a.m. this time of year so I see the course when it is wet as it will get. Yet even at this hour the ground always has that bouncy feel.
12: I guess playing twelve to the right is a little easier because the tee shot is shorter, but the real advantage is that the tee shot to the right has a much greater margin of error. As for whether there are any easy approaches, I guess not if you are looking for a big soft flat green with the pin in the middle, but this is a hole that can be played 4 Iron, sand wedge. Shouldnt the sand wedge have some challenge? Further, while I butcher it regularly, I just dont think the hole is that hard. The shot from the far right can be played with any trajectory, from high and spinning to on the ground the whole way, and is just not that difficult for most pin placements once you've hit it a few times.
3: Tom and Pete: I think going to the left on 3 may make sense when the pin is back right, and some like it for more than that, but I havent yet discovered much of a clear advantage of going left with any other particular pin. I think the problem with 3 is that from the right there is perhaps too much lee way to bounce the ball in. I'd be curious to see how the hole played if (a) they cut the grass short on the bank left of the green so those nasty bunkers were more in play off the tee and from the right, (b) if they lowered the back left portion of the green, so the back portion of the green didnt slope away from the trouble.; and/or (c) if they put some movement in the ground on the back right side of the green/ back left side of approach. When I say "they" I of course mean the original design team, and no one else.
5: Tom, the advantage of the tee shot on RC 5 can best be viewed from the green. Next time, look at the green complex then look back over the trouble to the driving fairway, and you will notice that one side might have definite advantages over the other, especially if the golfer is going for the green in two. Of course the other side might have different advantages.
As for the golfer who is definitely laying up, it is a much shorter, easier, and potentially more precise lay-up from the right side of the fairway as opposed to the left.
9: This is a very wide fairway with great natural undulation. There is more on right than the left, so you are more likely to get a very difficult lie on the right. Since I am laying up anyway I dont think it is worth it for me to try to play close to either edge.
10: One can shorten the hole significantly by playing down the right side then cutting the dogleg on the second shot. This route also leaves you with the best angle to approach the green. But cutting this corner is no easy task and is very visually intimidating. Left and middle are safer, but are substantially longer and not as favorable angle for those going in two.
11: This is definitely a hole where people differ as to the correct angles. In my experience, it is much easier to get it close to a left pin from the middle-left (no further right than the long swale that often funnels drives hit over the bunker.) Yes, there is danger short and left, but it is a shorter shot and one does not have to navigate over the hump and diagonally over the front slope. Even it is a safer approach from the far right, I think it is much more lead to a potential three putt on this difficult green.
Keep in mind that I am talking about getting it close or at least avoiding potential 3-putts.
By the way, just to prove I am completely nuts: While I dont mind going at the right side of the green from the left, I prefer to go at the right side of the green from the right.
Tom, perhaps you can answer these questions to help me understand why you refer to these tee shots as lacking "interest."
--Do you find "interest" in straight, flat, narrow fairways surrounded by thick rough? If so, why so?
--Is a great course required to have nothing but "interesting" tee shots.
--So I know what you mean, can you give me some examples of some great par 5's that present an "interesting" tee shot for golfers who know they are going to lay up. For example, we were both definitely laying up at SFGC 9; was that an interesting shot, or was it just hitting down the middle? How about the par 5s at Cypress for those planning to lay up?