Simpson submitted a hole design during the Lido competition. The article that published this said that he did not submit it. But there is another one that says that he withdrew his entry because his good friend (Fowler) was one of the judges on the committee.
Whatever the case, it is very obvious that CBM used Simpsons's design. He just mirror imaged it so that it would fit where he needed it to go in the overall routing.
Simpson had a natural area/ waste area it appears in the Y past the berms. In some of the areas of the actual course this area looks like a bunker and in some others it looks more like it was a waste area.
I've been very amazed by how closely they build the holes to plans.
This is an example of a period of time when the middle area appears to be a natural area.
And here was an earlier version from 1926 where the central bunker looked like sand. 255 to carry the central bunker from the back tee, which was absolutely impossible in the teens, but probably became possible for the biggest hitters in the 20's. This hole was just over 400 yards from tee to green on a straight line. So I think that for 90% of players, the central bunkers will still create a dilemma. And if it is into the wind, then a dilemma for scratch players/ bigger hitters.
For anyone here familiar with Olympia Fields South, I think that #11 at OFCC South is the closest thing to this hole that I can imagine in terms of dynamics, even though it is much shorter at 325 on a straight line. The creek is what keeps players in check though w/ 275 required to carry it. You can either layup short right and get a tough angle on the approach, you can go medium and to the left to get the best approach, or you can go for it and clear everything with a driver, but it bottle necks and you're likely to have a tricky pitch.
I don't think that Steve restored this hole to its original version here, so I would be very curious to know what his though process was. I can't imagine that he referenced Simpson's design, but I gotta tip my hat to him either way. If you haven't played this hole, you should know that the green is much easier to approach from the left due to the way that the back half is a mini punch bowl and you can skip it in.
It has always been a fascinating hole to me because of the variety of ways that scratch players play it in a tournament. I usually hit a hybrid left and try to give myself the skip in approach. Many will aim for the right fairway with a long iron and then fly in a PW. But many others try to carry the creek and get the ball near the green or on it- though that is rare. This hole is shorter than the Lido version and it isn't exposed to the wind. So, I imagine that the Lido version was endlessly interesting.