Adam:
Well, long left at Lawsonia's 4th is a shot I don't have! And it's hard to think of long left there as anything other than inviting trouble (if the thought on the tee is, if I'm going to miss it anywhere, it better be long left). L/M didn't completely encircle any of their greens with their famous bunkers at Lawsonia, but the 4th comes pretty darn close. From the tee, the bunker left and short (not really short, but what you'll hit if you're attempt at a draw is short) just sits there, huge and yawning. But there is another bunker, somewhat hidden, that adjoins that one, and connects around the left side of the green and toward the back. The largest of the three greenside bunkers wraps around the entire right side of the green, and again toward the back of the green. There is room long and left, but it's a pretty narrow opening between the two bunkers that wrap around toward the back left of the green. And, although my memory of the back of that green is a bit hazy, I'm guessing that there is a traditional L/M falloff, as there is at many of L/M's greens at Lawsonia. The bailout on 4, and the way I've played it every time since the first time (when I dumped a shot into the fronting bunker, didn't get out in one, played backwards just to get out, and pretty much ruined my card...), is a Casper-esque/WF 10th approach, where I just hit a shot at the opening in the front between the two bunkers, and hope for a chip and a one or two putt. Bogey on that hole, for my game, is a very good score.
It's hard to imagine that L/M weren't aware of Raynor's template holes and design concepts when doing Lawsonia -- for me, there's just too much similarity in the lines and routing they each utilized for that not to have happened. The famed 7th (the boxcar hole) at Lawsonia is a pretty good example -- a death or glory short hole, where not hitting the green results in a severe, severe penalty, but the shot is not long, and the green large and receptive. Interestingly, I've always thought L/M missed out on the opportunity for a first-rate Biarritz at Lawsonia's 10th, where they clearly had the room to design one. It's a very good par 3, probably second toughest after the 4th, but it could have quite easily incorporated a large green with a big swale, which L/M built into a number of other Lawsonia greens. Maybe an indication that L/M wanted to embody the spirit of Raynor without going for full replication holes.