Brian,

If there's a practice range, then I prefer the difficult holes early when I'm in a recently repeated rhythm.
Getting them out of the way early also creates a positive outlook on the balance of the golf course.

If no adequate practice range exists, the I prefer them somewhere out on the golf course where I'll have had sufficient time to "warm up"

I like the so-called Ross easy opening hole but if not that then at least an opening hole with a tee shot that's long and absent of serious trouble like water hazards, OB or trees making the fairway narrow. Basically any hole where I can go ahead and make a full swing with a driver rather than having to fit a first tee shot of the day into a difficult target of some kind. I think medium to long Par 4's are just the ticket.

I don't like the cliche of saving three of the four toughest holes on the course for the end of the round. That said, I think there's something to be said for a memorable killer hole somewhere late in the day just so the anticipation is there throughout the round. The seventeenth at Sawgrass is the example that first comes to mind. My home course has a longish, uphill Par 3 to a small, sloping green with a semi-blind tee shot for its seventeenth hole and it's interesting how often that hole comes up in conversation along about the middle of the back nine, especially in a tight match.

One thought I have about sequencing is this. If you have two or three "easy" or "birdie" holes out of eighteen then spread them throughout the course, don't use them all early in the round or put them all on the same nine. In a way, holes that you expect to do well on provide their own kind of pressure. There's nothing more deflating than to be struggling a bit late in the round and come to an easy Par 3 or short Par 5 along about fourteen or fifteen thinking that's your chance to get back on track with a birdie or tap-in par and instead you make yet another bogey (or worse). I think any opportunity to get the player's emotions going up and down repeatedly adds a challenge to the course.

Thinking about the much-discussed tough Par 5 fourteenth at Cuscowilla, that would be a waste if used as the front-nine Par 5 rather than the back-nine one. If you faced it as the second hole of the round (rather than a fairly easy shorter downhill potentially reachable one) it would sort of set the mood for the whole round rather than being a speed bump on the way to the excellent fifteenth and seventeenth where most matches will be decided.

Brian,

How do those espousing Ross's predelection for easy holes as openers reconcile that belief with his work at Wanamoisett, Belmont, Plainfield, Pinehurst # 2 and others ?

Pat,

I've only played #2, so I can't speak for the others.  And obviously the green on the 1st hole at #2 is no gimmie, but but it is a fairly simple drive (big wide fairway, fairly level stances for the approach) and a manageable opening.

There are always going to be exceptions to the rule, and in Ross' case I think it holds true more often than not.....unless of course the hole has since been altered    

I always felt a log of tough and memorable holes came right around the 13th or 14th or so. It's a good place in the round to have them---particularly in match play. You need them to be in a place like that before it's too late.