Bart,
Thanks for clearing something up, I didn't realize you had never seen the course before. Was that large tier not noticeable from where you hit your approach shot?
If you knew the course well my next thought would have been to point out that a top tier you speak of would be considered a "hazard" IMO (they just happen to mow it at green height).
Andy,
I do happen to consider #11 CD fair, but it is certainly pushing the boundary. I think once you have to eliminate birdie thoughts altogether the hole has crossed into unfair territory. As is, #11 has a few pin positions where getting aggressive is suicide, but I can safely play that hole in bogey 8 out of 10 times I would estimate. You should have seen the all-world bogey I made from the back bunker to a back pin on on my last trip.
It is quite funny to see guys play the hole for the first time and make a 10 though. They simply cannot accept that they can't go right at the hole and they pay the price.
I'm a bit of a homer at this point about CD so I am willing to accept that my judgement is clouded.
I do know that I could caddy a first-timer around that course at least 10 shots lower than they could do on their own. There is just so much to know and learn about the course that someone could go out there for the first time and get eaten alive and come to the conclusion that the course is unfair. As someone pointed out above, in the end it is just personal opinion. There are no objective measures for this kind of stuff.