Patrick,
The Lake Course winds its way down the leeward side of the hill, so is less effected by the wind. That stated, tree removal over the last few years (much due to pines reaching their lifespan) has drastically opened up the golf course, making the breeze more of a factor. San Francisco GC is technically on the windward side of a hill across Lake Merced - facing the Pacific - but is far more sheltered than our Ocean Course, much of which is routed right in the gunsights of the breeze. The fog and wind normally race up the sandy bluffs and cascade over the top shelf of the Ocean, specifically on holes 1,2,3,11-18.
After the Open, windy conditions and impossibly narrow fairways made the Lake an obnoxious obstacle course - and one I avoided at all costs. If I am only going to find time to tee it up once or twice a month, I'm not going to waste the day being harassed into discouraged depression by the entrails of USGA policy.
So, I played the Ocean 8 out of 10 - and given the firm and fast conditions, enjoyed every minute of it. Did Bill Love's Ocean Course renovation cough up a masterpiece like Cal Club? Oh gawd no - but it is a pretty damned good effort. If I had my way, DeVries or Neal would have nudged things around, but there isn't anything out there that makes me want to shriek plaintive oaths of woe . . . . . . . a lost opportunity (stealing a line from Ran), but a B- is better than the D+ Rees gave my many friends on the back side of Westlake Shopping Center.
Without getting into too many confidential details, a small ad hoc group (some holding formal office, some not) was arranged after the Open to tackle how to present the Lake Course in a more rational way - taking full advantage of the natural contours to encourage the ground game. If you take it hole-by-hole, dry fairways and intelligent rough lines drastically increase the strategic elasticity of the golf course - which is exactly what our GChair recognized and implemented.
At this point - given the arrangement of hazards on the Lake - I run the ball into the green on #1,2,3,4,5,8,9,10,11,12 and 14. You don't have to make that choice - and many still prefer the aerial approach - but my tendency is to use the humps, bumps and ramps that Watson and Whiting left behind for those of us whose launch angle is 2 degrees above a skull.