What the heck is the matter with some of you?
You are drunk from reading too much of this stuff. Go buy a new wedge. Get out and PLAY. Better yet go find some pretty girls to admire.
#17 at Shinnecock is not a Redan.
However, it is the most improved hole on the course with the brilliant work which was recently done there. It is now an overall better hole IMHO than #7 (THE Redan) which is the most overrated hole on the course.
The green at 17 is more like a reversed cant of my favorite and I think best hole on the course - #13. Go look at the two greens - they are very similar. There is a very narrow area mid green which is sans Flynn potato chip. The 17th is ever so slightly more elevated on the right side of this area and wisely so in order to receive the ball which has been abused by the brutal prevailing L-R crosswind. The reverse is so at #13 with respect to the cant of the mid point of the green but the wind is in your face.
The back left area of #17 is actually an easier pin than most on that green and the back right of both greens (17 and 13) have subtle backstops at the very back right. Both have the potato chip frontal and back left areas.
As far as #7 is concerned, it's only hope for salvation from being the out of control carnival ride it is in its present state no matter what the green speeds are set at is to have a more direct approach to the green from the tee. I said this twenty someting years ago the first time I played it and believe it to be no different today. The hole is just not right.