Chris,
Yes, the 7th green is definitely one of the wildest out there -- It's kind of a Biarritz/Double Plateau kind of deal, and really provokes a wide variety of responses. The thing to me that makes the hole interesting is that there's not a really obvious way to approach it. Lately I'm of the "drive-it-as-far-as-possible-down-the-left-side" school, as it gives me a shorter club in (assuming I'm not in that fricken ditch again).
Brent,
7 actually was very different before the flood. The drive over the wash was a more reasonable option (not so much for me unless the tee was up, but for a slightly longer hitter it was definitely very doable) because of the way the fairway was positioned. Your choices used to be to hit it about 200 down the left center, where the fairway just flat out ended and left you with a blind second (look at the course profile on this site -- it shows the original hole) to the narrow aspect of the green; or you drove it over the wash to get an unobstructed shot in to a long but somewhat skinny green. I'm not sure which version I prefer, actually. Although one of my favorite aspects of the new hole is how scary looking the tee shot is, but when you get out to the fairway it turns out to be very generous. It's a nice bit of visual trickery that works well, even when you know the hole.
I actually played Moorpark one day with someone who, when he found out how much I loved Rustic Canyon, said "I drove up there once but it looked so flat and boring from the road I just wasn't that interested." This after we'd played the 5th hole on the Ridgeline nine, which is a 600 yard par five that goes straight downhill and has a blind second shot to a landing area that's about 15 yards wide with a hill on the left with three foot high grass and a 50 foot drop-off to the right. A little flatter and more boring would really help that hole.
Tierra Rejada has a front nine with like 200 foot elevation changes on every hole that's so crazy they should turn it into a ride at Magic Mountain. But it's way better than the back nine, which is completely boring and has "containment mounding" along every hole. Yikes. And here's a cool tidbit that I believe is actually true -- Bob Cupp, who designed Tierra Rejada, was given the first chance at the Rustic Canyon site and TURNED IT DOWN. Some of us think that turned out kinda nicely.
David,
Boy, 5 is a great hole, isn't it? And I agree with you totally on 8 -- I love a really cool short par 3. I always comment to new players at Rustic that the key to 8 is not to go short or long or left or right. Any other miss is fine.