The last time the course was officially played in reverse for tournament golf was in the early-mid 1980's. It rests a lot of the landing areas and green entrys which suffer such heavy traffic the rest of the year.
Yes, a lot of the bunkers that are currently out of play are very much in play when played in reverse. I worked in the Road Hole Bar atop the Old Course Hotel in 1995 and 2000, and as we would often not close the bar until 4:30-5am, by which time the sun had already risen, me and a few other barstaff often ventured out for golf before the greenkeeping staff arrived to kick us off.
We decided to make this more interesting on many occassions by playing the course in reverse. I would say that a highlight hole is indeed the 17th, teeing from near the scholars bunkers driving up short of 'old' train sheds, and hitting a totally blind shot into the 16th green, carrying some fierce bunkers. However, this is only dictated by todays mowing, otherwise we would hit out right up towards that bunker on the left of the 2nd fairway (its name eludes me- Sahara?). I think playing the long hole out, in reverse was always brilliant, that 4th green is just impossible from the other side even with a short punch shot. Other stand outs include playing the 12th in reverse to the 11th green, the ball has to be kept left close to the eden estuary (possibly the only time it comes into play) to allow any running entry by the bunkers to a severely away sloping green. We never played more than 16 holes (to the 2nd green down the 3rd fairway- a great hole as the bunkers right in front of third tee come into play) before getting smilingly kicked off, but i suspect the reverse 18th played exactly the same, and 17 would have been an interesting run in shot through the bumps at the back of the 1st green.
There are a lot more forced carries, but i suspect that is a result of the maintenance practices of recent years- allowing some areas to grow, and cutting back others. For example playing to the 5th green from the 6th fairway is a totally blind shot over gorse, so to get an angle in you hit it out to the 13th fairway, flirting with hidden bunkers. Maybe i am wrong and the reason TOC is like it is now is because the reverse version was just too hard! A pure thrill to play all the same. I actually wrote to the Links Trust asking why instead of closing the course, could they not revert to the reverse 18 and rest the stressed areas, but they replied that the course needed a full rest. Or perhaps the administrators just needed their 3 weeks playing golf in the sunny Algarve!
It all seems a long way from Tasmania now.
greg@barnbougledunes.com