The discussion of 10 and 14 reminds me of a discussion a few of us had at Blackwolf Run a few days ago. We played the Meadow-Valleys back nine (pro tip: never go to Kohler to tack on an afternoon 9), which I consider one of the best nines in golf, especially if you can play the original 10th (we got off our tee shots from the red marker and thought we might just pull off firing our approaches before we saw the dude driving our way from the clubhouse...).
One of the guys in our group mentioned that he didn't really care for 12. It just didn't seem like anything special. And I totally get what he's saying, because it's not a hole that's loaded with features. It's just a big par 4 in a cool setting playing back into sort of a cliff-framed bowl, with some hazards in the driving zone but not especially strategic in placement. It sits on the land gracefully, it asks for two strong shots played accurately, it has a large green with some really cool contouring, but at the end of the day you're just trying to drive it long and straight, and then hit a good strong approach.
10 and 14 at PDGC both have a little more going on in terms of angles, but they're similar. Pretty straightforward, stout, pleasant-looking but not exactly thrilling. But crucially, I've played these three holes a combined 4 times in my life. I've only gotten a taste of them. But they're pretty wide holes, and their greens have a lot of character, and they have a variety of lies and positions one could find themselves in, and it's easy to see how multiple plays over time might reveal a lot more about all the different situations they can present.
I think what I'm trying to get at is that, like, everyone who plays the Road Hole can see the hole's central elements at work right away. The tee shot requires judgment, but the stakes are straightforward - challenge the OB and you'll get a better angle. Play more safely and you probably won't hit the hotel. But you'll have to contend with the scary bunker, or maybe the road or a rock wall. Good luck. And plenty of Pete Dye holes are similarly straightforward in their stakes. When you fire at the green on 5 at PDGC in two, you understand your goal and the consequences of failure clearly. You know the ideal miss. The audaciousness of those holes makes these things clear. But a hole like 10 PDGC, 14 PDGC, or 12 BWRMV doesn't really reveal its hand as clearly. And I haven't played them enough to know - maybe they don't have much of a hand to play. But I'm betting that a player who gets familiar with those holes learns that there are places to miss, and not to miss. And the fact that those places aren't spelled out as clearly just from a first glance at the hole doesn't make those holes dull. It makes them holes to be learned.
Unfortunately, it's sort of unlikely that I'll play any of these three holes again, and I REALLY doubt I'll play them enough times to get to know them as well as, say, the mostly nondescript-looking par 4 opener at my home course. It's long and straight with just a single bunker, and could easily be dismissed as pretty bland. But play it a few dozen times and you start to realize that there are definitely ideal spots to target, and good and bad places to miss, and times when you have to try to miss in a bad place because it's still the best alternative available, and that two guys lying 30 yards from the pin in two shots might actually be in VERY different positions. I'd love to get equally familiar with some of the equally "dull" holes in Dye's catalog, because there's just no way that a guy who was such a master of deception just, like, forgot to build interest into the occasional longer par 4. Rather, I suspect his frequent audacity helps mask some of the subtlety that lives in his work.
Just for kicks, my Pete Dye Top 10 Courses list:
1. Teeth of the Dog
2. Pete Dye Golf Club
3. Theoretically, the Blackwolf Run Composite Course
4. Straits
5. BWR River
6. Crooked Stick
7. BWR Meadow-Valleys
8. The Fort
9. Big Fish
10. Brickyard Crossing