Occasionally, you hear someone's like of a par five hole because it possessed alternate routes ala 14 at St. Andrews. Or someone compares a short par four green to the tiny one at 8 at Pine Valley.
Such comparisons are between similar holes - i.e. par fives to par fives, short par fours to short par fours, etc.
What about doing more mixing and matching?
For instance, the 14th at Yeamans Hall is a tough Knoll hole of 410 yards with a 12 foot deep bunker angled down its entire left side and a 6 foot deep bunker down its right side. I remarked to my playing partner this past weekened wouldn't it be neat if this was the green complex at the end of a 530 yard hole? Because of the severity around the green, an up and down is far from a certainty and the big hitter really would have to think about matters before having a rip at it in two.
What are some other interesting combos out there?
I think the 2nd green complex at Pine Valley would be FASCINATING at the end of a 500 yarder as a) you best hit the fairway off the tee so you can advance your 2nd well down the hole and b) going for it in two would definitely get the heart racing
(like 14 at Yeamans, the green is sufficiently huge to receive a 230 yard shot).
Cheers,
PS Last example: suppose 16 and 17 at Pebble were a par five - wouldn't the 17th green be an interesting one at the end of such a hole (we'll call it around 550 yards)? If you can draw your three wood onto the green, you're a legend (!) but if you come up short, you might have a 40 yard bunker shot with the Pacific Ocean smiling at you on your choppy down swing.