A story in the Hartford Courant on the opening of Yale refers to the front tier as "fair green." It may have been changed shortly after opening especially since the design would have prevented a horse-drawn or engine-powered fairway unit from getting onto the part of the hole.
Sven, that is an interesting thought, though, that the front portion could be mowed as green but the intent was never to put a flag there.
What really strikes me as odd about the holes are how dead flat most of the front portions are. Yale is a prime example. Fishers seems to be the anomaly, lots of movement in the front plateau and also angled back to front so severely that even in 1925 it could not have been used as a green.
Shoreacres, Westhampton, Yale, Blind Brook all have flat approaches. Blind Brook's front tier runs front to back and it meets the Macdonald description, in reverse, of Biarritz in Outing. "... bunkered to the right of the green and good low ground to the left of the plateau green." Blind Brook is bunkered left, with good low ground right and right beyond that the actual Blind Brook. It is also a downhill tee shot like many others.
Dedham is a one-tier Biarritz. Wanumetonomy does not have a Biarritz, possibly Raynor's only 18-hole layout without one.
As far as good ones, the Biarritz at Black Creek is wonderful.
Your comments in this topical area are always of interest to me; you know your stuff...
In every way that 5th at Fishers remains the most unique and "sensational" of the dozen+ CBM -Raynor-Banks Biarritzes I've played. The shot is every bit as audacious and as stirring in its rigor as Yale's is in its stoic beauty. And I agree that given that character of that ground, the pin was never cut in the front "pad," not even once as a joke...
Given that long and dangerous shot (200+ uphill, gusty yards with only England and badlands framing all but your best blow), THAT swale is more a safe haven than a "trap" to catch and confound green play or a mode to "sling" the ball to the "green proper." Unique among the Biarritz holes I've played, THAT front pad and humped ground "gulley" is an excellent result in 1 shot, given what could have happened to your ball on the way.
So I think that if not the "Best" of biarritzes, it's, imho, the most "sensational."
I actually think you were underselling the very "unconventional" Biarritz iteration at Blind Brook; though as your post was detailing, pins were likely never, ever, not even once cut in the front section
For starters, from either of two greatly different angled blue and white tees, that "front pad" is set at a 10-15 degree oblique angle to the back pad/green, and it doesn't have a straight-on, "skee ball" gulley; THAT gulley pitches and pours hard to the right, often careening the ball diagonally 45 degrees across the front right corner. While the standard 210 Biarritz distance and long controlled hit to advantage the contours is in effect, this pad acts as much as Reverse Redan "kick" mound as it does any Biarritz shot I've played. again, maybe not the best, but one of the most unique.
But overall, if I have to pick a best, there is no other site as is Yale's. Perhaps not so much as matter of the principles of design or the shot control demanded by golf, but as an audacious and exciting portrait. Like a rollercoaster -- you want to get on, but you're a little afraid. It's like desiring to play a classical solo on violin, and then comes that moment on opening night when you have to play it live and without a net.
cheers vk