Saunton East and West are vastly different from each other, which adds to the lure of the club. West plays over and around bigger dunes and is more user friendly. The East is difficult and as mentioned has many long difficult par fours, many of which begin the round. I used to have a membership there. If I want a fun lower stress day I opted for the West. If I wanted to test my shot making I went for the East.
It is a great club to have a membership.
Could the East host an Open. No. There is little room for either spectators or infrastructure and the pros would score to low to offer any real test for them.