Good points Niall.
Interesting to compare the 1896 routing with the 1914 video. In particular I’ve attempted to identify the building in the background at 5’30” in the film as this would help determine the green in views location so far but without success. Maybe the building isn’t there anymore?
Atb
Yeah, I've been staring at that image and getting nowhere with it. The dunes look like those to the left of 5, 6 and 7 but there's no building near that direction. The green looks a bit like the 7th, although the rise to the green isn't steep enough and the dunes feel like they are in the wrong place.
Sorry, that was a long winded way of me saying that I'm stumped too. But I feel like it's a rabbit hole that I'll go down properly at some point.
I wanted to add (to be contrary to the thread) - the 15th is my favourite par 3 ever. Yes, it's blind. But it's not really. I know you can't see the green, but you've already seen it twice (when you played 8 and when you stood on the 9th tee). You know exactly where the flag is. The green is also pretty big and a bit of a bowl, so anything left, right or short (within reason) will kick onto the green. And it usually plays downwind - it rarely plays any more than 150 yards so it's not any more than a solid mid-to-short iron for most.
Without the big dune (and if you could see the green) it would be a nothing par 3, without any bunkers and without any particular defense. The dune turns an easy shot into a psychological battle, as you try to persuade yourself that it's not a difficult shot.
Plus, you're nearly on the beach as you stand on the tee. It's a great spot.
Also, I loved the old 18th tee shot - it was one of the best on the course. The fairway was split with the high side giving a great line and view to the green, but being close to the out of bounds. The right hand side would leave you a partly-blind second that always played more annoying than it should be. And the burn was always lurking for shorter hitter or if you got too casual off the tee. I'm sad it's gone (although the new tee could be better - it'll be a long time before I'm over to see it).
I'd love to see the 19th at the end of the course replace 11 (I feel like the 11th green strays too close to 13).