This is a great thread (as is it's sister thread on "anti-strategy").
Vis a vis the Road Hole, I very much agree (and have said here before) that the hole would be better if they stopped the relatively recent practice of growing cabbage-like rough on the left hand side of the fairway. I remember vividly Tiger having a great heave and chop out of there in 2000, but I would have much preferred to see what he would have/could have done with all the strategic options that would have been placed before him if it had been fairway (or even light rough) where he was. The "go down the left side and try to pitch back up the ROC green site" option was tried en masse by the Swedish team in the Dunhill Cup several years ago, when they were leading the US, and only needed "bogies" on 17 to assure victory. As I remember it, one or two of them overcooked their second and ended up in Swilcan Burn in front of the 18th tee, and the three team scores were something like 6, 6, 7. Needless to say, America won.
In effect. 17 TOC is now burdened with an unideal "maintenance meld." It is still great, but could be a lot better.
In terms of the general gist of the initial post, I think Chris B is really onto something when he talks about uncertainty and open-endedness. To me great (I think nothing is "ideal") holes have a fascinating changeability about them, depending on all sorts of factors, both external (i.e. wind, temperature, pin placements, fastness and firmness, etc.) and internal (what sort of game one has brought to the course that day, the state of your match, what sort of risk preference you have, etc.). The 9th at CPC is a really good example of this, as is the 14th at Dornoch, as is the "Redan" at NGLA.
Vis a vis "strategy" and "anti-strategy", I think that the concepts of old just do not hold today, certainly for the best players, regardless of what equipment they use, and maybe even for us hackers. I actually like what I see of that aerial of Bulle rock, because it DOES, it seems, give significant reward to the long bold shot over the lake to the island bit of fairway on the right. Sure there are hazards to overcome, but with a wedge in hand, the expert player is going to be able to think "get it close for a 3" from that Position A, while the player who has bailed out to the left (as well as hackers) will have an "easier" chance to get on the green, but a much more dificult chance (given distance control issues and the contours of the green (?--don't know, haven't played there) to score a 3. I think there is a huge amount of strategic challenge in that hole--just judging from the photo, of course!