Checking in briefly after a long absence. Despite the restrictive pandemic lifestyle, I am very busy these days. Mostly I wanted to say hello, but will add a couple of comments.
I am not familiar with quite a few holes mentioned here. I see two primary requirements for a golf hole to be considered great:
1. A great golf hole should prompt most experienced golfers to consider alternate strategies based on pin location, weather conditions, and the state of a round or match played. Although the 16th at Cypress is often thought of as a do-or-die tee shot, I'm pretty sure you can play a mid-iron to the peninsula short and left of the green, and try to get up and down for a par.
2. The other type of great hole has fewer options, but the shots required are so compelling that it's fun playing it the same way every time. I've played the Road Hole once, and it was memorable. I've told this story before. The course was set up short and easy, and I was only two over coming to #17. I pulled my drive a bit, and had about 155 yards remaining to the center of the green from the left rough. I punched a little 5-iron into the wind, trying to bounce it up on the green. It crawled halfway up, then fell back down and left behind the Road bunker. After analyzing the options, I told my caddie I thought I could get the ball closer to the back left hole location by boomeranging the ball around the banked bunker edge. He responded, calmly but firmly, "We'll be doing nothing of the sort. Use your putter and just get it up on the green." I hit a beautiful par putt from about 45 feet, but it kept trickling by. I made the 5 footer back up the hill for bogey.
For me, the first type of hole is best, one that compels you to play it differently, to try different approaches and adopt different strategies based on hole location. For me, par 3s don't really qualify. If I were fortunate enough to play Augusta #12 one time, or ten times, I'm sure I would take my 155 club and aim for the center of the green every time. Short par 4s are a GCA favorite, but I'm inclined to believe longer holes have the most options and the most versatility. If I were to name ten best holes, most would be between 400 and 550 yards long.
I'll probably come back within a year and begin participating again. I did not touch a club this year, but will likely want to try playing golf again.