I give you the ultra wide and obstacle unencumbered tee shot fairway of the 15th at Pacific Dunes. And, in my opinion, a wonderfully undictating open space it is.
However, while walking it one day with Golf's Most Beloved Figure he proclaimed it a pathetic excuse for the first half of a golf hole.
When I asked him why he expostulated because there was nothing to engage one's interest---eg nothing to do but just hit the tee shot almost anywhere.
When I asked him to consider what came next on the second shot and the remainder of the hole he looked at me like I'd just arrived from Mars.
Fast forward a few years as Golf's Most Beloved Figure and I were walking the 14th hole at Sand Hills, a hole with an interesting semi-speed slot on a portion of the drive zone and one of the most multi-optional second halves of a par 5 I've ever seen and RanoM proclaimed that perhaps he should tell Bill Coore that failing to meld the 14 and 15 fairways constituted the total design destruction of an other-wise super world class golf course.
Never say our leader is not subject to immaculate inconsistency.
But who am I to criticize the opinions of Ran Morrissett? Maybe at Sand Hills he was still pissed at me for stepping out on the porch of our room for a smoke and then going to dinner without closing the screen door thereby letting into our room every single misquito in Nebraska.