There used to be a lot of trees in front of this pond too. At that time you could barely see the pond from the tee.
It's obviously a much better hole now and certainly more daunting from the tee, now that that the pond is in full view.
Have fun at White Bear - it's a treasure!
Actually you still can't really see the water from the tee box...
Also here is a look from where your second shot is from if you take it over/through the trees on the corner.
On a side note, and sorry to burst John Conley's precious bubble, the caddy in this picture (from last summer) just so happens to have made a 2 on this hole 2 weeks ago with a 3 iron from 205 (uphill into the wind and not to far from where he is hitting in this picture).
As for it being the "controversial hole" it certainly is. 3 summers ago they changed it to a par-4 and adjusted the handicaps as such. They also created a new tee-box 30 yards left and 10 yards up from the current set of two tee boxes and took out 2 left green-side bunkers. The new tee even when they changed it to a 4 has yet to see too much playing time. It allows a better angle to take it over the corner it is still a tough drive because the trees catch so many balls.
A majority of the membership hated it as a par-4 because they really had/have no chance at getting on in two. Most drive it out there 220-250 and have 225+ uphill left. After a one-year "trial" it went back to being a par-5 but was now sans the 2 green-side bunkers. This summer they also changed the rough to the right of the right fairway bunker (in the picture with the caddy above) to fairway as well.
Ever since the one year trial as a 4 and then back to a 5 the debate has raged on and nary a round goes by without it being discussed when playing the hole. There is a strong faction of the membership (mostly the younger men and the better players) pushing to take down the five trees on the left in Jay's picture and shaving it down to fairway to make it a par-4. Everyone who wants it to happen believes that if they do that it will become the best par-4 in the state and make Interlachen even more of a championship golf course.
The latest development is that they have now made this hole a par-4 for the championship or black set of tee markers that mostly only the single-digit handicappers use. As it is changed on the scorecard it only affects the handicap ratings on the back-side and really is just a number on paper. Personally I think that the par-4 "wanters" will win out in the next year or two and take the 5 trees down but I guess we'll have to wait and see.