Jason,
Awesome stuff!
Your post really made me think, and candidly I had never looked at the different (severe) slopes on the course that way before. But I understand what you're trying to say. I think you are absolutely correct about having to "manage" many of the slopes at T&C. The way I think of some tee shots, say like the 1st one, is that you have to play the "break" of the fairway much like you do a putt.
However, I am thinking of a few examples with different holes that might run slightly counter to your thinking above. I think overall while there are many scenarios of where a slope pushes the player toward trouble, I think at T&C many times you would much prefer to approach the green from as close to the trouble as possible.
For example, on #1 while the fairway slope dictates that most tee balls will roll hard right-to-left toward the creek on the left if you look closely the by far best angle of attack to that green is from right next to the creek. The lie is nearly flat, the green (which is one of the most severe on the course) breaks back right to front left toward the creek, and you do not have to carry the bunker short right of the surface.
Another example is #10. Which I think is a tough hole to grasp the first time you play it. I think in reality the slope of the fairway off the tee actually helps the player off the tee, as the ideal angle of approach is from as far left as possible (to the point it can look like you're hooking a ball off the tee toward the OB but in reality you have a lot more room than you think). As I told my group, anything center to right of center is pretty much dead on the hole, as there are a number of trees short right of the green that would require a fade or cut in order to get close to the pin or hold the green...of course that is a brutally tough task from a slope that almost guarantees a straight or right-to-left ballflight. My personal thought (this was also recently reaffirmed during a course walk with Darius Oliver) is that the trees short and right of the hole should be cleared out and removed. That would at least give a player who plays right an opportunity to hit the green, even if it's still a very tough task off a side hill lie.
That being said, there are just some flat out severe and penal slopes at T&C. The slope right of #11 green is both an awesome feature as well as a terrifying one given that there is OB ~10 yards left of the putting surface, and if a ball is hit down there it nearly guarantees a 4 or a 5. The fairway slope short on #5 is another severe example which will flat out return a poorly hit approach shot back to your feet some 100 yards.
Clearly T&C has an interesting, but also very severe, piece of property and some of these landforms would be just unavoidable if you were trying to route a course within its roughly 90 acre plot. Leading off of that point, Jeff Mingay told a group of us at an event this past July that T&C's routing actually resembles many Scottish designs in that unlike avoiding or playing around a big bold landform (like a hill or a dune), the holes many times play directly into and over them.
I think additional short grass in places would be a sigificant benefit to T&C and would make the slopes less punishing as you put it. Using your examples of #6, #15, and #10:
I think #6 would be a more interesting hole if its fairway and the 13th fairway (just to the north) were combined. Darius Oliver came up with this idea and I like it a lot. The huge natural feature you hit over on your approach on #6 is actually lower on the left side than the right. I think with some tree clearing on the right side it would allow for a player to try to either take the shorter, more direct, route to the green down the right side but have to hit over the steepest part of the hill. While the left side could be taken advantage by players willing to play the hole longer, but with less of the slope.
On #15, it should be noted that the original approach to that green was very very wide and if you look closely there is an almost punchbowl feature short right and left of the putting surface that over the years was covered in rough. For some reason, the approach was purposely narrowed in the 80's in order to make the hole "tougher", but the last couple of springs the superintendant has made an effort to widen the approach out a bit each year. Personally, I would like to see the approach widened all the way out on both sides which would allow you to potentially run a ball to the left side of the green (the natural slope of the hole goes toward the back right corner). Darius Oliver, this summer during his visit, loved the 15th green and said if the fairway was restored you would be able to choose from the top of the hill to either fly, chip, pitch, or putt down the slope...all while still requiring a soft touch given the severeness of the slope.
On #10, I see what you mean about balls rolling down off that hill. I wouldn't be opposed to maintaining that slope as shorter grass, but it should be noted that when more (as it is typically) dry balls do typically bounce and/or run off that slope into the green already. If anything I think short grass might make it much more punishing as it would just roll balls down the hill, over the green, and further down the slope?
I'm curious though as to why you thought that the course was lacking in strategic options? Can you give me an example? What did you think was the most strategic hole out there? (I can follow up with my own examples, but I'm curious to hear your own first).