Gentlemen,
My maiden voyage around the Pebble Beach was just after the 1972 Open (spoiled lad I was) and I promise the green complex at #7 has undergone some subtle alterations over the years. In fact, aside from the "new" 5th hole, there have been quite a few significant changes all over the golf course, just none that draw attention to themselves.
Putting aside the Chandler Egan-era dunescape, the 7th used to appear from the tee more of a rectangle - the rounded edges you see today pushed outwards to widen the landing area; years of sand thrown laterally from both sides of the green had eventually created a funnel effect, similar to the pre-Weiskopf 15th hole on Olympic Lake.
Few people noticed, but the back half of the putting surface has been widened quite a bit - with edges that nibble into space that used to be bunkers. And a few short years from now, they will have to do the same thing because golf courses change and devolve; every time sand gets splashed out, it contributes to the build-up.
I happen to be standing there when Tom Kite hooped that pitch in '92, but it was a much easier save than Watson's miracle in '82. Everybody seems to forget he had a wide open look at the pin and was chipping directly against a strong gale. An easy shot? No, but hardly the act of divine intervention by providence historians try to make it. There is quite a gauntlet between the 8th tee and the home hole and I'm going to say the worst score Kite would have made at #7 was a bogey - but par was not beyond one of the best short game artists on tour.
The fifth hole is a good deal more controversial. I'm not in the camp that pines for the old 5th because it was a real duck. First off, the overgrowth of those eucalyptus and pine trees intruded far enough to make it one of two true dogleg (left) par-3's on a notable golf course - the other at Cruden Bay. No problem for a kid who played the sling-hook with his father's hand-me-down Karsten 1 irons, but hardly appropriate for a shrine hanging on the western wall of America.
Uncle Bob is correct about the dearth of sunlight and air circulation between the arroyo on the left and the scrub oaks on the right. Add in an ugly stone wall guarding the cart path and driveway to a funky rancher home and the whole thing felt like a disorganized mess. The green was a tilted pancake with at least 6-8 degrees of slope - and growing grass on the putting surface must have been an adventure because half the time the Super resorted to green spray to cover bare dirt. Behind the green was a patch of sopping wet and tangled kikuyu grass, making a chip shot impossible. Good riddance to bad trash - there was nothing endearing about it and Nicklaus did an A+ job with the replacement.
That stated, I am with Patrick in speculating if the land were available at the time of construction, the 5th would probably have climbed the hill towards the 6th tee; certainly putting the arroyo to better use that what was there before. I'm not crazy about the walk-back to the next tee, but anything is better than a eucalyptus and oak leaf covered throwaway.
At some point, the 17th is also going to have to be addressed. I was lucky enough to cover several Opens for the press and still remember watching the Most Interesting Man in the World have to pull out his orange dot, 60 degree sand wedge (I was right there) and pitch the ball from the right side of the putting surface towards the pin.
Over the course of my life, the bottle-neck throat between the two sections has gotten more severe. I cannot believe it was built with that intention and somebody needs to admit the king has no clothes and stop the madness. If they want to make it a wickedly difficult challenge to get the ball close from one side to the other, fine - but a putting surface with pin positions completely inaccessible from a large portion of the green is contrary to common sense.
While my grouse is in full plumage, it is also time to knock down the lip of the greensite bunker on #15 and restore some putting surface area. In firm conditions, only an idiot would try for the pin on the upper tier; my vote would be to provide just enough room to tempt good players to try and stuff it close. As it is, the only play when the pin is back left is to hit the approach deep on the right side (where the slope is much flatter) and lag one close. It is one thing to preserve and honor the original contours and quite another to pretend the result of thoughtless maintenance for decades is the author's original intent.