Moving on to the fourth, there's something about the landing zone that feels a bit awkward and forced to me. It's a big hole in a huge setting, and yet it feels like it has one of the narrower landing zones on the course. On a course as big and bold as Ballyhack, it almost feels like a "ran out of room" hole, at least for the first 250 yards. Oddly, I think I might like it better if the fairway were narrowed and the strip down the right eliminated and maintained as rough. It just feels like it's really easy for a marginal shot to end up lost in the ravine separating 4 from 3.
You're not crazy, because you do actually run out of room, depending on the line you take. This is more of a diagonal landing area than it appears from the tee.
Here's an aerial of the hole:
The black lines approximate where the various fairway tiers start. From the top tier (blue line), you're looking at a roughly 210 yard approach. From the 2nd tier (yellow), you're looking at 170-185, and if you get past the second drop, you'll usually get down to 135-150.
I drew the lines from the Ballyhack tees (447), but from the Ridge Tees (411) is usually where the "run out of room" comes into play. Normally, this is where the yellow line meets the rough (especially after you pass the first drop). You may
From the Ballyhack tees, you run out of room at 280 yards, but if you're playing the Ridge tees, it's only 245 yards, so you need to aim more right, which may bring the center rough more into play. But if you're up at those Ridge tees, it's only 220 yards to clear all the rough entirely. When I play the Ridge tees, my main concern isn't the center rough, it's the left rough.
This hole exemplifies the various options and different strategies when you switch tees at Ballyhack. The angle of attack and difficulties encountered are completely different simply by moving back one deck. From the 441 tees, I'm aiming along the yellow line knowing that I'm less likely to go through the fairway and trying to get to the end of the upper fairway (perhaps rolling to the second tier). From the Ridge Tees, I'm thinking 2nd / 3rd tier and aiming much further right.
You said that the landing area feels tight, but that's really just a mental block, because of the raised knob of rough in the center and the fact that you can't see the left fairway carved out along the upper tier. Also, as you alluded, it feels tight simply relative to the grand scale of the overall hole.
Where the Blue Line runs out is roughly 45 yards wide. Even at the narrowest point (the first black line), it is still 35 yards wide. Once you reach the 2nd tier (yellow line), it's 50-60 yards wide.
I tend to ignore the right strip of fairway, but have been pleasantly surprised to find a poor tee shot with a second chance from there (albeit a very long second shot). If you factor in that strip, the overall corridor is roughly 75 yards wide.
I agree with Wade about the center rough. Initially, you may think of it as a centerline hazard because Lester put in a "redemption strip" of fairway along the right, but it's definitely not a split-fairway hole. The center rough makes you think about the landing areas to the left which may not be obvious (especially from the back two sets of tees). But, as I noted above, the rough can also fool you into going too far left if you're playing the middle tees or less, as you want to take a more aggressive line given the diagonal nature of the left rough once you get over the initial tier.
As Wade also noted, the rough serves more as a redemption for a slicing tee shot. If that were closely mown, marginal tee shots might just trickle over the edge and run into the ravine. Unfortunately, on occasion, the rough is a little more wet or heavy, and balls will stop part way down the hill (like it appears happened to Tommy's friend in his photo), leaving no option but a punch to the lower bowl from an awkward lie, but it's still better than the ravine.