Patrick:
Nice pictures. My favorite holes not pictured are 2 (members 11), 5 (members 14), 7 (members 16) and 13 (members 4). Any pictures demonstrating those holes?
Why do you think 17 (members 
is the best hole on the course? It may be one of the tougher holes, but I think of it as a drive in the middle of the fairway and an iron to the green.
In the Solheim Cup, it was interesting to see how badly the players struggled with relatively modest rough. I saw several iron shots barely get off the ground. My guess is that the rough will be much thicker this time with the wet spring.
BTW I believe I have erroneously been giving the resoration credit to Ron Prichard who did Minnikhada when in fact it was Brian Silva who restored Interlachen. Ask and you shall receive.
13 (M. #4) is posted above twice.
As for #2 (M. 11)
As for #5 (M. 14) from just right of the fairway 200 yards out.
As for #7 (M.16) This hole benefitted the most from the changes along with 17(M.8 ) in terms of getting the player to think. The fairway bunkers come much more into play and are all very tough.
As for why 17 (M. 8 ) will be the "best" hole at the Open I guess I meant it will be the toughest for the women I think. Isn't that what makes the Open the best tournament? Its toughness? In that regard 17 will be the best hole at Interlachen imo. I also want to stress that the changes they made greatly improve this hole and the strategy it now takes from the tee. Its not the drive to the middle of the fairway you remember Jason which is kind of what I tried to lay-out in my earlier post.
The rough is just plain nasty. I believe its going to get to 4 inches for ten feet off the fairwau and then 6 inches or something like that. You are going to see a lot of the wayward hitters off the tee struggle and a lot of full swings produce 20 yard shots.
I agree with Jason. No. 8 (tournament 17) is not even among my top nine favorites! It's got a vicious green, but ... what else?
Patrick -- Do you have a picture of the No. 2 (tournament 11) green? It's a viciously sloping, long and skinny little thing -- unlike any green I've ever played, I think.
I love, and have always loved, the look of No. 16. Don't know how interesting it plays -- but I gather it requires a crisply hit second with a shortish iron. And I like short par-4s that require such a shot.
Isn't No. 17 a sort of downhill, reverse "Redan" -- more than No. 13 is a Redan? Seems to me (I haven't seen No. 13 since 1993) that the play to 13 was all-aerial, whereas the perfect play to No. 17 often involves landing the ball short left.
I, too, really like No. 6.
Dan I think you are right that 8(M. 17) plays more of a reverse redan with the ground game being a good play there as I mentioned before. However the aerial shot usually isn't penalized (as long as you can get a 3-iron to sit relatively soon) and I think that the best play to a front or middle pin on 4 (M. 13) is one you get to roll on to the green from the small entrance front-right as a lot of aerial shots end up rolling off to the right and to the back. They are probably both half-redan's if you guys will forgive my creative license.
Pictures of 11 (M. 2) are here but unfortunately its the one green that had some winter kill on it so it had a temp pin.
11+15 (M. 2+6) I would agree are the best most classic Ross holes ICC has to offer. You learn something new every time you see/play it.
I played Interlachen last year for the first and only time. One thing's for sure--the ladies and the senior men (Broadmoor) will have big-time challenges on the greens during their US Opens. As a first time player, I found the sloped, well guarded greens really intimidating, and I suspect that, while fast, they weren't US Open fast. Interlachen isn't a long course, but it requires precise placement and accuracy on the approaches--vintage Ross!
I really liked the course. My favorite holes were:
The downhill par 3 par-3 4th (Members' 13th) (pictured above). I agree with Dan that the 8th (Members' 17th) is more Redan-like than the 4th (13th). 4 (13) requires an exacting mid iron shot to a well bunkered green. Note: I was told that until recently the water behind the green was totally obscured by trees. A little tree-removal went a very long way here.
The par 4 15th (Member's 6th) (pictured above). There are several similar holes at Interlachen (e.g. the adjacent #1--Member's 10th, which plays in the opposite direction), but the cant of the fairway here makes this hole quite interesting. In fact, the rolling nature of a large part of the property is a significant feature.
The par 5 13th (Members' 4th). Although the par 5s aren't the strongest part of Interlachen, they require decent shotmaking. This hole is good because the second shot is challenging--it needs to be straight to avoid water L-R and is important to set up a shortish third to a large sloping green.
My one criticism of Interlachen is that there is a lot of similarity between the short/medium and longer par 4s. For example longer par 4 holes 5, 6 and 17 (Members' 14, 15 and seemed very similar to me. Same with the short par 4s 11 and 7 (Members' 2 and 16). I had to look at a map to remember some of the holes, which in my opinion is not a good sign--one ought to be able to recall every hole on a great course even with a single playing.
I'm not a fan of #9 (Members' 18). I think the green is just too severe.
It will be a fine test for the women the end of this month.
Doug you are correct the trees taken down behind #4 (M. 13) were maybe the best they took out. The hole is fantastic now with the water in the background.
9 (M. 18 ) is indeed severe. Thats why its a shame its not the finishing hole and probably why I love it. They did add about 30-50% more green and 25% or so is usuable (well sort of usable, maybe hittable is better) on the back part of the green which is a punch-bowl. Still very tough par here.
As to 5, 6, and 17 (M. 14, 15, 8 ) being similar I probably have to disagree. Maybe I have been out there just too much but those holes each offer some very different looks from the tee. I guess the second shots are similar, a longer iron to a very back-to-front sloping green, but one looks downhill but plays level, the other is downhill slightly, and the third looks level but plays uphill. In my biased opinion the reason Interlachen is a great course is that each hole has its own character that you learn more about every time you play it. Again though probably just my biased opinion.
Have any of you researchers of old classic era courses seen many photos of Interlachen back in the day? There are probably many photos available, I just don't have the inclination to start looking now. But, my question would be, were the greens mowed collar length for a greater wide perimeter back in the day? From the photos, I'm wondering what the course would play and appear like regarding approach shots, if their were short cut shoulders out say 10 more ft. It does look fabulous, however. I sure would love to do a hit and run. But, Carl P hasn't sent the invite yet... 
I'll second that call. Maybe I can go to the library and look to find some old newspapers from around the time Jones won the open. I have seen a few and there are barely any trees when he won in 1930.