All the lakes at Redstone are the result of the need to obtain fill material to raise the course out of the swamp land where it was built. Having been the General Chairman of the SHO for two years and intimately involved in the operations of the tournament for almost two decades I can tell you that their are some difficulties in moving people around the golf course. However, that is the result of certain planning issues that were in place prior to the design of the course. Rees came up with a good solution considering the constraints he was working under. All of the tournament facilities and clubhouse are located on the north side of the bayou. Consequently, the first and eighteenth holes are located to be as close to these facilities as possible. It works great when we have a playoff because the rotation is 18-1-18. The separation between 1 and 2 and 17 and 18 is a problem, but we manage by transporting the players, caddies, scorers, walking marshals and standard bearers with carts. Players finishing on #9 in rounds 1 and 2 also get transported to the clubhouse via golf cart.
Whether you like the character of the course or not is up for debate, but I think Steve Timms (tournament director) and the staff at Redstone do an outstanding job incorporating the "Augusta" feel during the event. On several occassions our champions have remarked that Redstone is the best conditioned course they play all year, and the vast majority of players love the set up. Can Redstone provide the elevation change of Augusta? Certainly not, but many of the maintenance practices are implemented from the Masters to mimick the conditions at Augusta including the rough height, shaved banks adjacent to the lakes, mowing the fairways so the grain of the turf is into the player, and providing similar green speeds.
Rees and Greg Muirhead must have done something right at Redstone because even Phil Mickelson doesn't criticize the course, and continues to return to the Shell Houston Open each year.