Somewhere I still have my notes from the client brief. (simulated Japanese accent) "I want "fru-fru". Maybe with their accent it was really "foo-foo" but then, what do I know. Willard Byrd had delivered two perfectly typical and bland resort courses for him, and he requested, and I complied, to sort of overdo it. I recall interesting discussions. In the end we felt if there was any place for lots of mounding, to please customers, it would be Myrtle Beach.
The steepness of the mounds in question came fairly directly from the owner, too. After the 8th green was built, he though the driveable 9th was too short, and wanted a new back tee, which we had to elevate to see over the front tees, which meant we had to steepen those mounds. I didn't want to take the bunkers out figuring they added some safety. Those "Mesa mounds" are actually the tees we jammed in there.
Honestly the worst part about that hole is the plateau green, where the shelves came out a little steeper as well, perhaps tying into the theme.
You will note that of the four courses (Rees Jones did the last one) the Avocet is the only 18 remaining open. While all four were open, the Avocet always got the most rounds, despite Byrd being fairly prominent in the area and Rees being Rees. And, they charged the highest fees for Avocet and the Rees course, but we still got most play.
It also cost just more than half of what the Rees course cost and only a few hundred K over the Byrd courses. Byrd and I both moved 400K in earth, but he raised all fw a few feet. I engineered the drainage so they could stay closer to ground level, so I could use the same amount of fill and get more effect. That, IMHO, is a real lesson in how architecture can make a difference to your business plan.
Ah, the memories!