Douglas:
As I have the good fortune to play here quite frequently, I can hopefully answer your questions.
1) With weather conditions steady and not extreme, the greenskeepers typically run the stimp close to 10-11. The greens drain well and surfaces are pure poa annua, thus are capable of getting up to 12-13 with no real effort other than 2X cutting and 2X rolling. The members prefer them fast and typically 11 is plenty swift given their contours.
2) The slope of the #2 Redan is indeed quite severe from the left side of the front 1/3 (going from R-to-L) The pix posted here do a good job of revealing just how sloped the pitch is. Inside the middle of that slope is a funnel-like channel that will not stop a right-to-left moving ball but, with a pin inside of it (as is often the case), will allow for a recovery shot from underneath(the front below bunker) to possibly get close. I would tell you the slope is slighly more severe than Shinnecock's and NGLA's with identical greenspeeds, however given the size of the front right 1/3 of the green, more benign and forgiving with a properly played shot(banked into this area).
3) Under the conditions you mention, the only shots that work are a PERFECTLY PLAYED cut over that 3rd bunker or a well-placed 1-2 degree draw into the middle of the green's right 1/3 area. If any shot, cut, straight or draw, is taken at any pin any part left of center, say "bye-bye" and walk your way around to the low left of the green to find and play your ball. The good news is that your next shot is straight uphill with a moderate l-to-r break and par is obtainable. The bad news is that should your tee shot have a little too much heat and end up on top and behind the green, a double-bogey is staring you in the face. Same might be said (although a 4 is possible)for any weak shot left on the front right 1/3 when the pin is lower left.
The fun play is to sling a low and mild drawing wind-cheater into that right 3rd and watch it climb and hopefully die at the green's crest. I've seen an Ace occur that way and I have nearly made one myself with that trajectory.
4) The pond at 12 freely and easily drains over a waterfall that can't be seen until you climb the hill up to the 13th tee. The green, although abutting the water with no more than a 3-4 inch buffer at it's lowest point, rises quickly and has never, to my knowledge, been flooded. It is, as Pat mentioned, wickedly sloped back-to-front and right-to-left yielding few birdies and lots of bogeys for an otherwise straight-forward little wedge.
What is hard to see from the photos is how tough 16 is. That 160 yd (tips) par 3 slopes very hard l-to-r and back-to-front and is responsilbe for ruining plenty of rounds.
Take a closer look at #8, a 225yd (tips) monster of devils hole. The green appears flat and large from the tee...only to reveal, once you get there, a wickedly mini-mounded surface that might have been used as a pallete for NASA to build a model moon-lander! It is common for an otherwise wonderful tee shot that ends up within 10 ft, to easily yield a maddening 3 putt. At this point, most every golfer I've ever shared that course with, wishes they could just head 25 feet left and play the Redan over and over again as it is infinitely easier to par than #8!
Hope that helps!!
