The 14th is a favorite of Coore's and Keiser's, that's well documented. The specific location of the hole on the property holds a special place in Mr. Keiser's heart, because it was when he stood near the location of the tee box that he decided to buy the property. Ironically enough, his chosen architects for the first two golf courses never approached that area and when the third did, it was immediately christened as a controversial hole. There can be no doubt that one can see a majestic sweep of beautiful property from the 14th tee. There is also no doubt that incorporating that area in the routing for Bandon Trails was the number one issue for the competing architects. Mr. Keiser told me that one candidate proposed building a tunnel, which automatically disqualified him. Ultimately, they went with the C&C design, despite the fact that it mandated a very arduous walk from the 13th green uphill to the 14th tee. I made that walk on the day that Bandon Trails opened and questioned just how long they could get away with such a setup. I think it was a year before they put in a cart shuttle to take players, caddies and bags up to the 14th tee.
The 14th hole has been controversial mostly because the margin of error was viewed as razor thin, both with the tee shot (which had to be well left, toward the forest, in order to get a flat lie and a decent angle at the green, and with the second shot, which was to an narrow, elevated green that was really hard to hit. It was the quintessential quirky hole that would be judged acceptable on many a classic layout, but the modern fussy golfers (myself included) felt that the quirk was too forced and too unfair and too easy to correct. I know the hole has been tweaked and I highly doubt that a substantial redo is in the works, I cannot help but speculate that another significant tweak is coming.