Many thanks for the kind words, all, and apologies for the delayed reply.
Keith: I haven't played Oakmont or Pine Valley, so I'm curious: (1) has the tree clearing at Yale had as dramatic an effect as the tree clearing at Oakmont, and (2) in terms of seclusion, scale, and topography, Yale seems to have more in common with Pine Valley than with Oakmont, no?
Steve: Ally is correct, but I wonder whether the holes named "Lang/Long" get their names because there isn't much else--i.e., apart from length--to say about them. For example, if Yale's 18th were the 16th, would it be called "Lang"? Somehow, I doubt it.
Eric: Funny you should mention Bethpage Black. When I played it on Sunday, I got into a lengthy discussion with my playing partner about the comparative scale of Bethpage Black and Yale. We agreed that, as far as courses making you feel small, Bethpage Black comes closest to Yale--at least in terms of courses we've played--but we ultimately gave the edge to Yale, due to the stretch of flat (albeit still great) holes from 10-13 at Bethpage. You should definitely try to get up to Yale, especially as it's in such spectacular shape this year.
Geoffrey: That's the first I've heard of "Odyssey" being used to describe Yale's 18th (although I prefer its descriptive quality to "Home"). I did some research, and all I found was a comment by Ran--"I never knew the hole was named Odyssey - isn't that a unique name within the Raynor family of courses?"--on another GCA thread entitled "The much maligned 18th at Yale." In a follow-up to Ran's comment, Mike Erdmann corroborated that the 18th was called "Odyssey" (and also gave names of the other 17 holes, many of which similarly differed from their current names). But aside from those two comments, I can't find anything else on the Internet to support it. The Yale website calls it "Home," and the "Golf at Yale" history book (available in hard copy at the Yale pro shop and online) doesn't mention "Odyssey" either. Interestingly, the first scorecard for the course--which you get a hard copy of if you buy the "Golf at Yale" book--had no names listed for any of the holes. UPDATE: I just found another GCA thread where Tim Martin confirms that the 18th was indeed called "Odyssey," changing to "Home" on the scorecard only after 2001 (
http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,48484.0.html). Does anyone know who/what inspired the change?
Separately, please note that, as my now-modified comment at the beginning of this thread indicates, I've decided to hold off on compiling a color photo tour of Yale until the fall, when the course is at its most colorful. I have enough good color pictures from last Thursday for a color tour, but many of them are shot from similar perspectives as the black-and-white pictures, which I prefer. (The above black-and-white tour is now updated with a few additional pictures that for some reason didn't upload from my camera the first time.) Another tour would therefore be visually duplicative. Also, I want my next photo tour of Yale to contain a full written review, and I find it easier to compile one after I've just played, as opposed to walked, the course--even if I know all of the shots and holes by heart, I am more attuned to playability aspects of the design when I've just played it. I will, however, post several more of my color photos over at Colin's NCAA thread.