Tom,
great questions. I am an avg hitter in length (can carry it about 285-290 when i need to, but generally only carry it 275). I give you my carry distance because that week, the course was wet enough that basically thats how far we hit it.
As for your questions, I played my golf as a kid out of an old donald ross in durham nc (hope valley country club), and so I think i play more angled golf than most my age. I check pin locations on each green before I tee off to get an idea of where I want to be, and pasatiempo is the kind of course where that kind of thinking pays off. I shot 73-71 to finish around 10th last year, and my 71 was partly in a huge storm that rose the scores exponentially. As for the 2nd hole, i generally bombed driver off 1 and 2 not worrying about angles, so that i could get a 9 iron or so into the green. Two actually plays really long from across the road, and is a great hole. I bombed driver off 6, but actually hit it ob in the 2nd rd there off the tee, when i hit the cartpath etc etc. I think 7 is a great risk-reward hole for college kids, i chose to hit 3 wood, and then a wedge. One of my teammates hit driver, and the other 3 hit an iron of some kind... 8 is a great par three, and the pin locations there were BRUTAL last year, the slope of that green makes certain 3 ft putts terrifying, i remember having one last year where i knew i was either gonna make it, or have a 20 ft putt coming back... The rough was nasty on 9 last year, making it a great penalty to go right on ur second shot there. 10, 11 and 12 tested my mental game as much as any stretch of holes i can remember. 10 can be a driver for us, but the fairway was so soft that generally that meant we had a severe downhill lie with a 7 or 8 iron. if we hit 3 wood, it was a 5 iron, but off a flat lie... great decisions there. same with 11 because we could hit 3 wood and really challenge the baranca or hit an iron and have a 5 or 6 iron in... and 12 could be a 3 wood and flip wedge, or a iron and pw or so, i chose to go with the latter... 16 is the toughest hole i played in college golf last year, that tee shot isn't fun (3 wood for most of us) and then the 6 iron or so to the green scares the hell out of u. i saw a really really good player make a 9 there and shoot 75 in the first rd, and i made birdie to the back right pin there in the final rd that still remains my favorite birdie ever...
what a tremendous golf course, and a great opportunity for those of us who get to play a tournament there. Its such a great golf course, and an even better learning experience, especially considering how different pasa is from most courses we play...