Jay/Gerry,
Geez...love most of AC but really hated 17 and not much of a fan of 18 either.
Tom Doak and I discussed this one some months back on here, talking about the limitations he was working with given the (at the time) new practice center eating up much of the real estate of the original 2 finishing holes, as well as needing a place to dump fill, if memory serves. I tried to use the "Search" function here to find that thread to no avail.
My major complaint with 17 is both aesthetic and functional. Here you have a site without a single dune (it's a bay, not an ocean!) and all of a sudden you have this obviously man-made minefield of mounds on 17, and a pretty bland, boring hole to boot!