Thanks for that, Mike.
Let me start by saying, or rather asking, was the tee shot intentional? If so, then my main premise is wrong, at least in regard to Seve's shot specifically. I was under the impression it was a wayward tee shot, not an intentional play. So I'd have to find a different example, if it was intentional. (Perhaps someone can suggest one?)
To me, the answers to these questions get to the heart of how you view golf course architecture. Interested to know your thoughts on this.
Being the loudmouth that I am, I assumed everyone knew the answer to this.
My own views on golf course architecture have evolved quite a bit over the years. I am less interested - far less, in fact - with defined options, and rather instead focused on what I call preferred strategies and shot accommodation. When I was first introduced to this site, I had just read Geoff Shack's
The Captain, and being of a mathematical bent myself, I was fascinated by the notion of defined options for each level of player.
Then someone said something on here about the problem with defined options: they are obvious and tend to become trivial (that's my paraphrasing, not at all what he said literally). I thought a lot about this, and it, along with many other things, steered me toward my present view. I view the journey from tee to green and hole as one of individual choice. If you can do it from parking lots, awkward stances, whatever, all the more power to you. Hitting it down the middle, or down a preferred angle, is reward in and of itself, I see no need to
overly penalize a golfer's wayward shots - and make no mistake,
overly is the key word in that sentence. To me, the penalty strokes associated with water, or the stroke and distance of OB, or the automatic punch out of ultra lush rough or heavy trees, are
overly penalizing.
I'd expect the observant poster to note my position and wonder how I can reconcile it with my love of Oakmont, by most people accounts, the poster boy for penal golf. Well, all I can say is, there's no water at Oakmont, and not a whole lot of OB in play, either. I never said anything about the recovery shots not being hard, I just don't like when they are not there at all.
I can think of two courses in particular that really seem to fit my ideas, and a third that I'm not sure if it even still exists, all built relatively recently. However, I haven't played any of them, yet, so I'll just leave it at that. I don't know that they were designed under anything resembling my premise, but they seem to have turned out that way.