Angela,
Don't listen to these bozos, they're predisposed to a patterned answer.
Ask yourself, if a building blocked your view of the DZ from the tee, and the flight of your drive, with OB and more buildings to the right of the fairway and DZ, on any hole a modern architect crafted, would it be villified or deified ?
Would the architect be subjected to malpractice ?
Is there an owner/developer out there who would risk/agree to craft such a hole ?
Where are they ?
What modern day hole has you drive over a building to a diagonally oriented fairway with OB on the right ?
While I feel that the green and how the green relates to play from the drive, is brilliant, one can't view the "Road" hole in a limited context. The entire hole has to be considered.
Then ask yourself, if someone built a green right next to a path/road with a stone wall immediately adjacent to the path/wall, would they be villified or deified.
Is it not the "quirkiness" of the hole which elevates its stature to such lofty heights, rather than the merits of the tee shot.
If that tee shot existed anywhere else in golf, what would the critics comment ? Villify or deify ?
For that reason, I prefer the 7th at NGLA when the right side bunker complex served its intended function, prior to high tech obsoleting its function.
So as to remain consistent, as the "road hole' was intended, as a par 5, how does it compare with other par 5 road holes ?
As a par 4, pretend for a second, that the 8th at Piping Rock had a barn/stable/building blocking the view and flight of the drive, with OB all along the right side, how would it be perceived, favorably or unfavorably ?