Tony,
Very good article. The greens at Split Rock include some of my favorites. I go there fairly often late ( after the last groups) just to play maybe 9 and mostly putt.
If I play the front, I putt around on #s 5, 6, 7!, and 9!.
The back is even better. As Paul suggests, #11 is a !!, and 14 thru 17 are all at least one !.
For me, though,it's the 18th green that stands above all the others, as good as they are. Back to front, front to back, side to side, all putts are good fun on that green.
But it's also a different style. The "wild" contours on most of the other greens lead to fun and difficult putts with the chance of missing hugely, and they also reward good placement of the approach shot. But the interior contours are "modular" (for lack of a better word). Thinks of the derby-hat mound in the center of #15, or the 2 mounds that you mentioned in #11, or the valley on #17. Though they are certainly placed strategically, they are not very much tied to the approach or surrounds or each other.
Several of the greens have what I call "integral" contours (for lack of a better word. Help me here, you're the professional writer.)
These greens offer long, sweeping putts that can be made, that you are sure you can make if given another chance.
Numbers 5, 6, 9, and 16 all have putts of at least 75 feet with the target being the perfect drop-off point to ride a big contour to the cup.
Number 18 has this too, except the putts can be very smooth, continuous 5-breakers. It more than reminds me of the greens at Winged Foot.
I have no evidence, but I would bet that if Tillinghast didn't design that green, than someone who knew and loved Winged Foot did. (And I think the greenside bunkering, the push-up front and the fall-off back, so similar to a Winged Foot green and all different than the rest of the course, make me more sure that my hunch is right.) If the 18th green at Split Rock were transported to Winged Foot, it would fit in perfectly. I have putted there so often long after the last golfers have gone that the staff used to go home and let me park the cart and leave the keys. (I know you love that long walk, Tony, but this is The Bronx and not very many years since the last dead body was found on the course.)
PS I think there is a typo in your article. The cross bunker that you picture is on the 11th hole.