Geoffrey:
Hey, you are entitled not to like any work you want. Everyone is, which is why consulting is a losing battle.
I'm glad to hear that one of the things you liked least about Yeamans Hall ... the green on #1 ... is the only one we didn't work on. They had built a USGA green there about three years before we got involved, and they didn't want to spend more to "undo" it, even though they had come to understand that the contouring was all wrong. Likewise, we have stood by our guns that they should "restore" the fairway bunkering rather than modifying it left and right, but they have not given us the go-ahead to change much of it.
Honestly, I don't remember the bunkers around #9 green well enough to argue about them; we were trying, but nobody bats 1.000.
And yes, you are right that the greens are only my interpretations, since there were no detailed maps of the original greens, and the original contours were completely buried under a foot of topdressing. We had to use our judgment to put the greens contours back as we thought they had been, using a map of the course that had "hatch marks" for greens contours, plus our knowledge of Raynor's other work.
I have said before but I will reiterate again: the only two true restorations I know of are Camargo Club in Cincinnati and The Valley Club of Montecito. Every other client we've had has wanted to change something, or leave something alone that wasn't original. And I could point out the same things at every other club I've seen which has claimed to be restoring its course, no matter who the restorer was.
Pasatiempo, unfortunately, CANNOT be completely restored to its original form ... it just wouldn't work for safety reasons, and we've all understood that from the beginning. I try as best I can to keep from altering MacKenzie's work, but when they won't slow the greens down and the green is worn out from keeping the hole in the same spot every day, what are you going to do? The eleventh was a great golf hole, which is just silly the way they're playing it now. And we've thought about what to do for about seven years now before proceeding with anything.