I was watching the Golf Channel profile of Gary Player on Saturday night, and they talked some with Gary about his architecure career. Some of the discussion was around Gary's course at Sun City, and the 13'th, or "Crocodile" hole. As Gary describes the hole, the course's owner wanted something which was highly marketable to the tourist golfer, so Gary remembered seeing Crocodiles biting at things, and thought this would add some eye-candy to the course. The 13'th hole has a giant pond, filled with Crocodiles (separated from the hole with a high (20 or 30 foot) edge on the lake. The hole also contains a sign urging the golfer not to climb down in the lake to play a ball (and that the course assumes no liability for those who do).
I'm not sure what the strategy for the hole is supposed to be, but it might go something like, "I could try to carry the lake on the left and reach the green ... if I make it, I've got a great shot at a birdie ... if I don't, I could take a drop, or play out ... if I play out, I could run a nice pitch up to the green, or get eaten by a crocodile ... wasn't there something in a James Bond movie about how to survive a crocodile attack?"
Is survival a fair part of the strategic calculus?