AG, you should visit HarbourTown 14 and Kiawah Ocean 17 to see what Im talking about.
I will say, I now want to play the course with you because I am fascinated by the fact that you walk it. My preference is walking (though Im not one of those new fangled walkers who thinks everyone needs to play the game that way) but I would not have considered that a possibility at Tobacco Road given the transitions (you mentioned 14 to 15) and the hazards.
Plus, I'd like to point out to you, on a hole by hole basis, how right I am and how wrong you are
JC,
I have played both Kiawah and Harbour Town, the latter twice just last April. In the same way the Pete Dye's work reminds me of no one else, I didn't think of Mike Strantz when I played 14 at Harbour Town. It's reciprocal; I don't think of Dye when I play a Strantz hole, either.
Thanks for the offer to point out the minutiae of how wrong I am, but I'm already married, so no need for that. And while I don't expect that I'd change your mind about much, given the degree to which you are wrong, I KNOW to a certainty that you wouldn't change mine.
For example, you include 12 as a hole with a bailout to the right, while a shot to the left leaves a shorter and less blind shot into the green; you're dead wrong on two of the three items. 12 is an almost 90 degree left dogleg, and the "bailout" you're talking about is actually the center of the fairway, not right. The issue on that line is the waste areas on the OUTSIDE of the dogleg, so getting the right distance for that shot is the critical judgement on the tee. By contrast, while the left line DOES leave a slightly shorter shot in IF you can stay out of the trees and the waste area, the second shot is MORE blind, not less; MUCH more blind!
And several of the holes you cite as having right side bailout areas are actually doglegs, with what you call bailouts really being the center of the fairway. That there are risk/reward options that involve hitting away from the center of the fairway pretty much takes care of "one dimensional strategy". I'm 67, and on 4 I can't take the left line and go for that little shelf in front of the green anymore, but I shoot the distance and think about it, just like I did 20 years ago when it was still an option. But I'm not "bailing out" when I hit the center of the fairway and have a wedge in on 4, and to think of the hole that way is one dimensional thinking.
JC, whether its with me or somebody else, keep going to TR; I'll bet you get it someday!