Interesting observations, love to see the variety of opinions as to how holes play or should be played. That definitely is our hope with these short 4's and probably is due to the width as much as anything. The wind factor on these two holes is very strange too, but has worked out beautifully (and by coincidence, not shrewd design). The prevailing wind on both 3 and 12 helps the perfectly struck tee shot, while the wind knocks down the slightly off-center drive that isn't played with a right-to-left spin.
GeoffC brings up a good question and comparison with 10 at Riviera, which inspired the various discussions on 3 and 12 at Rustic. With the 3rd, we tried to create the type of penalties for placing in certain areas and not carrying off the shot ala 10 at Riv, while 12 was definitely meant to be more along the lines of what MikeC said, "non-obvious." I love the notion that everyone feels driver is the play, and that they have the green light to swing away. About one out of every three or four times I have played 12 (and I've tested it out more than any hole), I get careless and pull it left into the bunkers. That pretty much means a likely bogey or worse, but even better, leaves a memory, making for a tentative play the next time around! So for now, I'm against the notion of doing anything to take the blast driver notion away from 12, especially because the green is so tricky to play too.
Brad, the pins on 3 and 12 most definitely can be scouted out, which we gave a lot of consideration too on all holes. 3 can be seen on the way in (Ran spotted it on the way in Sunday) and 12 as you are playing 11. If the pin is below front on 12, you definitely would prefer to hit out to the right. Coming from the left, it's almost impossible to get it close because the green goes away from you. It looks like such an easy shot, but the ball just keeps on rolling and rolling when coming in from the left. And the greens aren't really even fast yet. From the far right, you have a great little backstop with the tier behind the hole. We almost put the hole up front Sunday, it may even be more fun than the top spots.
Geoff