Dan:

#13 RCD is definitely in my top five favorite par 4s in the world. I love the way the fairway sort of diagonally narrows down the more aggressive you get off the tee and it could be the ultimate study in cool ways to compensate architecturally for various aspects of semi-blindness. The green and everything to the right of it is simple architectural brilliance. It might be one of the most fun par 4s to play I've ever seen.

Both are/were short, downhill par fours.

That's not true.
The original 10th at ANGC played at 430 yards for the Masters, that's hardly a short par 4.

# 10 at Riviera plays from an elevated tee to a level fairway.
# 10 at ANGC plays seriously down hill to a fairway that drops precipitously away from the golfer.  The drop to the landing area is more than 100 feet, which is huge.[/color]

Both have/had greens set at a diagonal, each in a different direction. (Thus the mirror image relationship.)

# 10 at Riviera is a thin sliver of a green set to an oblique angle.
# 10 at ANGC wasn't a thin sliver and was nowhere nearly as angled as Riviera.[/color]

Both provide(d) for very difficult approaches to the green if the player takes a direct line to the green. At Riviera, that leaves an approach to the shallowest green axis, guarded by flanking bunkers.

Riviera's 10th still provides a very difficult approach, closely flanked by front and rear bunkers on an angled green, ANGC's old 10th didn't provide a difficult approach, it was rather straight away, and the bunker you reference didn't front the green, it flanked the left side of the green, and was substantively offset from the green. [/color]

At ANGC, that left a blind approach over a very large bunker (still there) to a fall away green.

That's not true.
That bunker was well left of the green, not in front of it.
And, the approach didn't have to come over that green, and the approach wasn't blind.  The green was described as being defenseless, which is hardly how you'd describe Riviera's 10th.[/color]

Both provide(d) for indirect playing strategies that open(ed) up the green. At Riviera it is to play your drive left and away from the green, leaving an approach along the widest green axis.

Riviera's green is at a severe angle, the old 10th at ANGC was at a benign angle, and you can't compare the approaches in terms of risk/reward, there is no comparison, Riviera's green is well fortified, ANGC's green was fairly wide open, and was described as being defenseless.[/color]

At ANGC, the smart play was to drive to the right side of the fairway to a small plateau (still there), from which the green opened up. Anything too agressive would have rolled into a swale (still there) right and short of the green. A very dicey driving challenge. (Far more interesting than the rope hook everyone hits on 10 today.)

If it was so dicey I doubt they would have altered the hole.
McKenzie himself described the hole as comparatively easy.[/color]

Can I go home now?

Not before you reprimand TEPaul, and make sure that he's written, "TEPaul is a dummy" 1000 times.[/color]