I'm feeling a mite clueless right now but I never thought of the sixteenth as a Par 5. Into the wind in 2006 it was just another unreachable-in-two hole and downwind this time it would have seemed reachable had I not hit my tee shot short and into trouble both times. Is really is a pretty standard two-shotter length from the yellow tees, isn't it?
My problem was that after punching out of trouble with my second shot (this year's rounds) or just plain old having to lay up (into the wind last time) I kept ending up with an awkward lie and no idea of what to do with my next shot. Of course if I didn't even realize I was supposed to be conceptualizing it as a Par 5 then it's obvious what I really need is a better mental map of the hole's geometry and proportions.
Which brings up another point. The stretch of 15-16-17 does tend to confound itself in my mind, resulting in an unclear mental picture. Obviously what is called for is another half-dozen or so times around the course to let everything settle and clarify in my head...how does the third week of June next year sound?