David,
I believe that Yale is an unusual Biarritz amongst CBM's collection because it mandates a heroic forced carry over water.
I don't believe that any other CBM Biarritz mandates a forced carry over water with no alternate method of playing the hole.
At 225 yards to the mid-point of a 65 yard green, that's a incredible challenge in the 1920's.
In the 1920's George Bahto indicated that the "better" players only carried the ball 180-190 yards.
Now add in another factor......"wind".
With all the studying CBM engaged in, he had to be cognizant of what he wasdemanding from the golfer on the 9th hole.
Added to the above is the fact that Scott Ramsey discovered, vis a vis numerous core samples, that the front tier and swale were built as putting surface.
If the front tier and swale were fairway,maintained at the high heights of the times, a ball could never make it from the front tier, through the swale and up onto the meat of the back tier.
Many of those with positions to the contrary never played golf in the 1950's and earlier, hence they have no idea as to fairway height.
Lastly, tell me how fairway mowing equipment, the tractor pulled gang mowers, would mow the front tier and swale as fairway.
That's a very deep, steep, sharp swale.
In order to mow the swale the tractor and gang mowers would have to come up, onto the back tier after climbing that steep slope, and if the didn't get stuck they would ruin the swale and back tier putting surface.
Early photos show the swale and front tier mowed as putting surface and it wasn't with tractor pulled, large gang mowers.