Kyle, thank you for the beautiful pictures and exciting thread. The 6th is one of my favorite par 4's anywhere. Is your picture from the back tee? I seem to remember hitting my tee shot at more of an angle, but I could be wrong.
I chuckled when I read that 17 was the last birdie opportunity. In my twosome, we had failed to make a single birdie all day (despite a lot of chances on those devilish greens) when we got to the back tee on 18. Our caddie told us that he had never seen anyone birdie the hole. Somehow, we were inspired, because we both had tap-in birdies with a back-left hole location. We both hit the best driver-4 iron and driver-5 iron possible, and the caddy was stunned after our less-than-stellar play on the previous 17 holes. I hope I get a chance to play there again, but I might just skip 18 and forever insist that it's an easy hole.
As far ask rankings go, I agree with Matt in his surprise. Stone Eagle isn't even on Golfweek's top 100 modern list and according to Golf Digest it is 25th(?!) in California behind The Quarry, The Preserve, Porcupine Creek, The Bridges, Sherwood, The Madison, Tradition, Shady Canyon, Lahontan, The Reserve, Spanish Bay, and Bighorn. Clearly the raters are looking for different things that I am in a golf course. If people see major flaws at Stone Eagle, I can't relate in the least.