In many ways, this thread is directed at the architects out there, but I'd appreciate it if anyone interested would comment.
I was reading
Motherless Brooklyn a few months ago, following the deserving accolades on a What Are You Reading? thread, and I was noting the beautiful prose Mr. Lethem shares. In particular, I read the following passage and was struck by its beauty:
Still, we'd begun to function as a team - demanding physical work contained its own truths, and we explored them despite ourselves.
[As an aside, it's quite obvious from the behavior of some on here that mental works attaches no such reflection...]
This deep sentence has held my interest for many months. Never ever would I have captured so much thought in such a manner, so succinctly.
So I then thought about my favorite topic, golf course architecture. How many times have you been confronted with something that flat out stunned you? Something that made you think, wow, I wouldn't have thought of that!
For me, I was struck by this thought on the very first hole at Oakmont - I had never seen a more natural green at the end of a hole, particularly a downhill hole. My thoughts on this topic were recently jolted when reading a bit of what Tom D posted in the thread about the courses in FL with C&C - he mentioned Bill Coore built a green in a far different manner than what he would have, given the circumstance.
So for the architects: When have you come across something on a course that surprised you, that you probably wouldn't have seen or done? It can be in a good or bad way.
And for everyone else, what holes have you played that stunned you? (Apologies if that's too strong of a word, can't think of a better one right now.)