I did think 9 was the best of the par 3s at my visit. I'm confused as to why it was left out of the original routing unless it was just in the interest of making the transitions between holes easier or something like that.
The original routing had the current 8th as the 18th ( and the current 18th as the 9th). The current 9th was designed as a 19th or "bye hole" to get you back to the clubhouse. Add to the confusion the dell hole was the original 7th ? So the course had 19 holes.
The current 8th (original 18th) and 18th tees are right next to each other so when they switched them ( to end on a par 5) the 9th hole ended out in the middle of no where with a "bye hole" to get you to the 10th - actually a halfway house 100 yards from the 10th tee, 'and 300 yards from the clubhouse'
At one point you decided before the round if you wanted to play the " dell " course (#7 as the last par 3 on the front) or the " bye" course (#9 as the last par 3 on the front.) You just walked right bye the dell hole if you were playing the bye course. Or you played it for practice?
This confused a couple guys so at some point they deleted the dell taco bell hole and forced everyone to play the "bye course" as its played today.
Im sure this is not a clear explanation, I wish Brad Klein would have written this.
Edit "a"- 'and 300 yards from the clubhouse'