The thing about you Patrick, is you need to understand better when a hole does not possess elasticity. Your suggestion to move Macdonald's Gate and the drive into NGLA to add 50 or so yards to #18 is perhaps one of the biggest travesties imaginable as an architectural suggestion.
There's no way to minimize the stupidity of that suggestion, to deflect it or to weasel out of it. You made the moronic suggestion and you will have to live with it. You should say you were grossly mistaken, say you're sorry and apologize to NGLA and the rest of us right now.
Anything less is totally unacceptable.
Happy New Year, you, you, you, you mush for brains!
One day, hopefully, you'll see the error of your ways and the merits to the concept.
The roadway and gates can be easily moved 50 or more feet.
Moving them has NO impact on the club and permits the enhancing of the hole.
Remember, those gates weren't there when the golf course opened. They were added later.
Moving them north allows you to bring the tee almost straight back, which preserves the angle of attack to the fairway and the critical bunkering scheme.
It brings that bunkering back into play.
That bunkering is THE critical feature on the drive.
It would make the hole play longer than its current 502 from the back tees, thus restoring the features in the LZ on the second shot and increasing the mental pressure on the golfer.
It would also make the third shot more challenging.
Yes, even 20 yards makes that third shot more challenging, espcially since it would bring the left side bunker, 67 yards from the green, more into play, which in turn, narrows the landing area for ones second shot since the steep falloff presents the right side hazard, creating a bottleneck effect.
Hole # 2 has been lengthened, as has # 8 and many others.
Recently # 12 and # 14 have been lengthened.
All to return the architectural features in the DZ back into play, and, to restore elements of the approach shot.
Only you remain in the dark on this issue.
Lengthening # 7 and # 18, RESTORES the architectural features meant to integrate with the golfer's game, BACK INTO PLAY.
That you haven't come to grips with that concept and its merits is truely mind boggling.
I've made my New Year's resolution.
It's to try to educate you to the point where you see and understand these concepts.
See, see the ball, be, be the ball.
See, see your future, see yourself teeing off # 7 and having the "Hotel" bunker scheme affecting your play.
See yourself teeing off # 18 with the gates and road slightly north and that big cross bunker genuinely challenging your play.
If you can see that, then you'll be the better architectural student that I know you can be.