Okay, let's talk a bit about this hole. It's one of the ones that I would like to go back and work on someday, and perhaps I'll have that chance in the next couple of years in my visits to Melbourne. Understand, though, that with the course solidly ranked among the world's best and the tee sheet relatively busy, disruptive fine-tuning may not be high on the ownership's priority list, nor should it be.
To address the last question first, I never really thought of making the hole into a very long par-5, and I will look at that. I don't think it would work well because going back any further would make a very narrow corridor for the tee shot, and if most people are landing short of the central bunker, they won't get to where they can see around that bluff into the lay-up area for the second shot. But, I am not sure of the distances, and I will take a look at it that way.
The hole is listed as a par-4 (and a very tough one) because it's downwind 85% of the time, and because as Bill mentioned, the lay-up area actually discourages lay-ups by being so narrow.
The idea of the left-hand fairway was to make a shorter route for shorter hitters who needed to go that way to get home in two. I figured that longer hitters would prefer to go long and right, and that's fine, but the shorter hitter can't carry it over the knob in the middle and I didn't want him to have to take the long way around and make it a definite three-shotter. Apparently, you guys don't think much about people who hit it shorter than you do.
The suggestions to mow the bank up the approach in front of the green, or the side-slope between the two halves of fairway, are ridiculous because at present those areas are just way too steep to mow. I personally like the interrupted fairway in front of the green which forces you to make a decision, but the awkward bit of rough between the two fairways is a problem. So, if I get my chance, I would likely re-shape some of that area and some of the upper fairway, to make it a bit more inviting for the short hitters and to reduce or eliminate the random penalty for players whose drives get hung up on the slope between the two tiers.
Thanks for all of your suggestions!