Patrick,
Hopefully Tom will come on here and correct any/all flaws in my theory.
the "artificial mounds" you are referring to were there as a result of years of mining and no doubt, along with (or even in spite of) the water were what attracted Tom/Bill to go there iin the routing.
As far as the # of bunkers, it appears the green was simply cut into the sand debris mining hill and that the bunkers were a natural result of opening up the scarred land to shape green.
I don't think anyone could find fault in the actual hole, no matter who had designed it (although I think we can agree the aestheitics might've come out differently)
the green itself is incredible.
It's a spectacular hole, and one that kind've sneaks up on you as you walk from the previous green, which is set down a little.
It seems to me the ONLY risk in the hole was fitting it into the routing, as those who are judging the hole itself by pictures are missing that portion that I attempted to draw a bit of humor to in an earlier post
.
(Neil your guess on the next tee location is about 180 degrees wrong)
Is the hole worth walking over a bridge, walking back over the bridge, then walking quite a ways along a cart path and up to the next elevated tee? Obviously Tom felt it was.
My comment would be that after 2 plays, and rethinking about the holes,#8 was the only hole I could not specifically remember, as you mentally get lost trying to remember how you got there.
No way he does that to the routing unless he felt the hole was worth it.
This , and other severe portions of the property would seem the most challenging parts of the routing. I for one would be interested to hear his thoughts on the process ,what other spectacular parts of the property were considered , but scrapped, for similar reasons.
ex. was the clubhouse always planned where it was , and was the bye hole ever considered as part of the routing?
Also, were there any other spectacular/unique areas of the course that presented similar routing challenges that also ended up in the routing and how were those issues solved, and what compromises, if any had to be made?
Tom Dunne-Our posts have crossed-I guess we can play Lekarica if Tom bans us from SS
and to answer your question, there were 3 groups on the tee in the BB event I played in