Mike,
The first time I ever played PV, in 1964, when I walked up onto the back of the 5th tee from the 4th green and looked across the abyss, I said, "wow, look at this par 4."
The caddy said, " this isn't a par 4, it's a par 3"
I looked again and said, "no way".
He handed me a scorecard and I was stunned.
It looked like a short, but incredibly difficult par 4.
I remember being amazed, as I had never seen a hole that came anywhere close to resembling this hole.
It looked impossible.
From the back tee the carry looked intimidating, going right looked horrendous and going left only looked a little better.
My partner was a 5 handicap, and we were playing a match against two Pros, Bob Shields and Dick Dacey.
My partner gets up and hits it down into the junk.
I'm not feeling good as I tee it up.
I hit a so-so 3-wood just short of the green.
At first I was disappointed that I didn't flush it and that i wasn't pin high, but when I got up to the green, just like the 1st hole, I was glad that I ended up where I was because any shot hit above 4:00 and 8:00 o'clock would be in deep trouble.
My newest strategy is to hit a choked up driver, a low runner.
Unfortunately, my last attempt just ran slightly too long into a narrow back bunker where I hit one of my best recoveries to 3 feet.
If I had thinned it or hit it a little strong, I would have run off the green, which again, isn't so bad as you have a decent cance of getting it up and down.
It's clearly one of the most intimidating shots in golf.
Unfortunately, there's a more intimidating looking shots just nine holes later.
The tee shot on # 14, I think is scarier since there's less land acting as a safety net.
It's almost the ultimate pass-fail tee shot.
It's either hit the green or a bunker or perish
Short is good, leaving the golfer with a run-up or putt for a 3, or a 4 at worst