This photo may help illustrate.
The original tee for the hole is back and to the left, about 10-15 yards further behind and about 20-25 feet higher.
Our speculation is that from that vantage point, "back and to the left" to quote one Jim Garrison, one drove beyond today's 17th green towards the hillside in the distance.
Although photography tends to flatten things out, you can get a pretty good sense of the scale given the winter scene, and one can imagine a fairway up through the trees.
Beyond the top of the hill, one would find a flat spot about 100 yards long before another long descent to the green.
It would certainly have been a wild, roller-coaster of a hole.