Up until Rustic Canyon, my home course was Mountain View CC aka Serfas Club in Corona, California and widely recognized as a dog track by most. It has five par 3's five par 5's and each hole plays strategically different then the other as well as a balance of par 3's that would make one Ran Morrissett beam with joy.
I can say that Mountain View is more then likely one of the reasons I appreciate strategy so much. Not that it had a lot of it in the fairways, but more on how to play the holes in consideration to my game, as well as the other weekly devotees of the course.
Of the par 3's, at 130 +/- yard #3, I can vouch for a deft touch off of the tee when trying to place the ball on the green in relation to the pin placement. It is generally the fastest green on the course, make that fastest block of ice.
At the 7th, One can literally play it off of the right hillside and watch the ball rumble to the back pin, and thus taking out any danger on the left side of the hole. I have seen many a GREAT golfer go for the green and ultimately three-putt, while the much higher-handicapper, play off of the hill, one-putt and walk away with the win.
The 190 yard downhill 10th, one of the strongest par 3's I have ever played on a public access course, even the best golfers are subjected to either trying a risky, running cut around the pond instead of trying to hold the small green on the fly. The hole is pure unadulterated evil, and I after years of playing it find that out of respect, on each return visit, that I lay-up with the hopes of walking away with a bogie 4. I know of only two other one shot hole's that exude such respect--the par 3, 5th at Pine Valley and the 16th at Cypress Point.
The 146 yard par 3, 12th isn't a hard hole, only if you miss the green left or right. The green is somewhat canted forward, and every chip to the hole requires playing a break to get it close, double the trouble if you leave it above the hole and the green is playing extremely fast or extremely slow. It is a hole where blind faith--not taking it seriously will ultimately be very costly in both match play and your pocket book!
And then the final one-shotter, the 17th, is 207 yards, but plays more like 225 to a green that looks to be very easy, yet is very hard to hit.
All of the one-shotters run in different directions, hence on a windy day, scoring on them a must, and none of them being anything similar to one another, just ads to the memorability of how strong the holes can really be, if you can look past the esthetic.
Mind you that in all of this, the course is considered a dog track by the SoCal golfing public, including that fact that it comes awefully close to the 91 freeway on a couple of holes. But I still think of the place as my introduction to what strategy is all about.
The place has that rough-at-the-edges appeal, the same one that enamored me when I got to see Merion for the first time. Something that most golfers don't want to understand.