I can provide some insight into the contest for the 14th hole. I was fortunate enough to be present when Brian Silvernail (the contest winner) was brought up here. Brian is a friend of mine and I actually told him about the contest, otherwise he probably wouldn't have known about it. We are both interested in golf course architecture and have created courses for computer games and simulators for many years. I'm particularly interested in the strategy of golf holes and routings and prefer to use real pieces of land when creating fictional courses for games. I'm local to Sand Valley and it's been a dream come true to see the process of courses like these being built not far from my hometown.
Brian's thinking behind his original design for the hole was a risk/reward where you could challenge the right bunkers with the driver or choose a layup shot down the left side. From the layup you could either hit an uphill wedge shot over sand into the green or play a lower shot to the right using the same contour that you would with driver from the tee.
The concern we were told was that bringing the fairway all the way back to the layup area down the left side would be a problem for drainage. This is the low spot surrounded by 60+ feet hillsides on the right and left and gentle slopes coming in from front and beyond. As you can imagine, he would defer to the experts on this as it is something us computer/simulator course designers don't usually think about. So this area has been left as a sandy waste area.
Another concern was that the right bunkers would discourage players who couldn't consistently carry them from taking on the line required to go for the green, thus causing the hole to favor longer ball hitters too much. With the left layup area gone, a plateau area a little left of where the bunkers used to be became the layup spot. It leaves a clear view and a fairly level lie for a full wedge shot. You may consider playing to this spot because there is still a risk to a mishit when going for the green. Instead of ending up in a bunker about 120 yards out, balls coming up short of reaching the green roll down into a lower section of fairway in front of the green leaving an awkward 50 yard pitch shot uphill over a bunker. But with a carry not required to go for the green it is less intimidating (maybe even enticing?
) for the average golfer to go for it now.
The tee positioning changed by collective agreement. It was further left, down the slope originally. I don't remember who suggested it but as soon as it was suggested I had a pretty good idea it was going to be better and when we walked up there it was confirmed. Everyone agreed the view was more stunning and the angle encouraged the ball to roll down the side of the hill more.
They also added an aiming bunker on the top right side of the hill approximately in line with the front of the green that was to be flared up so balls couldn't roll into it. They had Brian flag out the shape of this bunker. They also let him run the bulldozer and excavator to get a sense of what shaping holes is like in the real world. All of that was decided upon Brian's visit to the site and he agreed with the changes. The fairway bunkers were already gone when he visited. I don't know if they would have put the fairway bunkers back in if he wanted them back but it didn't come to that.
David also flagged out the grass line around the aiming bunker while we were there, leaving only a narrow strip of grass around its right side. I thought there should be more grass around the right side so the player could play the slope as high as they wanted and a miss back behind the bunker to the right would roll into a collection area of fairway or sand behind the green. I didn't see how balls could ever get to this area without that. I mentioned it but since I was neither the contest winner nor the architect I figured it wasn't my place to push for it.
That aiming bunker now has no grass around the right side of it. It is a finger of sand coming out of the rest of the waste area sand on the right.
Another change since Brian was up here was that a bunker was added on a direct line to the green from the tee to prevent bombers from taking this line and instead forcing them to play the slope. At least for them this may bring that fairway/sandy area back right of the green back into play if they overpower the slope. It could require more of finesse shot for them to catch the green. This pic illustrates it pretty well because you can see the shading of where the fairway starts to fall away in a diagonal line from the finger of sand to the back of the green.
Image from Twitter @the_fried_eggOne of the biggest surprises for me is how often and late the plans change to the point that I don't see how a contest entry could look the same by the time the course is finished. In computer games/simulators we have the benefit of being able to play the hole and tweak it and play it again until it plays the way we want it to. Since real architects don't simulate their holes, a plan on paper is difficult to get a sense of how it will play. From topo plan to walking the property to shaping to growing in to preview play to a year after opening day, new information is continuously gained and appropriate changes are applied so we get a great hole and a great course.