Here is what was written about the hole in the August 16, 1925 Hartford Courant, BEFORE the course was opened for play:
"The ninth hole is over the northwestern end of the Greist pond and has its original on the Biarritz course in France. The green proper is behind a deep groove in the approach which is of about the same area as the green. The approach is bunkered heavily on the right and left and the fairway is the lake. This hole is one of the most interesting on the course and is deceptive because of the full water play, although the hole is not a long one."
The writer's name is not given, just "Special to the Courant." The wording is quite similar to the Banks quote George Bahto included in The Evangelist. So the writer either interviewed Banks, paraphrased Banks' writing, or Banks himself wrote the entire article. (I can forward the entire article to anyone who sends me message with their email.)
To me, the key thing is that it is obvious that Macdonald and Raynor never envisioned the front section as putting surface. In Scotland's Gift, Macdonald includes Yale's scorecard and the hole is listed at 225 yards. In the same book, he includes Mid Ocean's scorecard, and that Biarritz is also listed at 225 yards. And we should note Macdonald's first Biarritz, Piping Rock, with a distance of 220 yards.
It is no stretch to assume that someone in charge of tha Course at Yale approved the change from approach to putting surface, perhaps as early as the summer of 1925, prior to the planned opening in October of 1925. Banks and Raynor could have already left the site, allowing others to finish the grow in. Only a moron
would speculate that Raynor chose to drastically alter the design concept that Macdonald taught him, create an alternative front putting surface at Yale, and then never again repeat this concept on other courses. To believe this, we also would have to assume that Banks forgot to mention this DRASTIC change when writing about the hole at Yale. And when Banks would go on to build many Biarritz holes on his own after Raynor's death, he never created a front putting surface.
Because the approach looks so much like a green, it is quite easy to speculate that someone like the Golf Professional (who may have also served as Greenskeeper) ordered the change, even if that was before the hole was ever open for play. That is perfectly logical.
The article goes on to fully name the individuals serving on "the committee having in charge the building of the course." Would you put it past a committee to make such a change?