A.G. —
TPC Sawgrass was never intended to cater to a golfer who would play there every day or every week.
I disagree that TPC No. 17 serves only a useful place on four days per year. As we speak (discuss) on this Sunday morning there are nervous golfers stepping to the tee there with a few club choices in hand. These golfers are followed by more foursomes who also have the 17th in mind as they play 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16. As I write this final sentance of this paragraph it is likely that a few practice swings have been made on the 17th tee by an otherwise calm individual who has just sensed a rush of perspiration migrating through their pores—all of us can imagine this scene, its drama and the actors.
Golf is supposed to be challenging, exciting and fun. No. 17 lives up to this ideal for the very reason it spits in the face of your narrow definition of what makes a good (or bad) golf hole. Here's to Pete Dye!
A great mystery of Golf Club Atlas contributors—many, at least—is that there are several out there who often do not think beyond a few simple dicta or a series of closely held beliefs about what makes a good course or hole. Your remark leads me to believe that you somehow feel as if every golf course might aspire to follow a rule such as: "A course should never have a hole which might become tiresome if played over and over by the same golfer."
There are many more reasons to build golf courses in the modern age—especially post the 1970s—than there were in the days we now hold in such high regard: The classic era.
As to your conclusion that "more and more water hazards are limiting and not great architecture" because they have fewer options (such as TPC's No. 17; no recovery, etc.), allow me to suggest that a golf course full of holes with only options is, in and of itself, a potentially tiresome trek. Occasionally it is refreshing to face a hole of "Death or Glory" qualities—one which says to the golfer, "Here I am, my creator has outlined one—and only one—perfect shot. Your job is to find this shot within your skills and execute it. Now. And, by the way, it is not a shot which requires much power or macho quality. It is a simple shot. More than a putt, but not by much. Now have at it. Take your best shot my little golfer. My flag is waiting for you to perform."
While it may not be called for to lay out numerous penal designs, the right combination is achieved in a good routing and "story," as we often refer to the rhythm and flow of a course.
The water hazard is not dead. In fact, this thread makes me want to inject one in whatever plan I pick up tomorrow.