The East is imo simply a super course. From the tee it's maybe a bit less demanding than the West but it has some heavily rolling putting surfaces that perhaps make up for it. Being routed in a non out-n-back fashion, as is the West too, means that the wind direction changes more with the holes than do some other links.
There have been numerous changes to the East since it first came into being. To find out more how the East has evolved over the decades there is in the Clubhouse an A3 size book showing in great detail the changes to the East course which contains overheads and aerial photos of the the whole area used during WWII. All sorts of WWII training areas were included such as flame thrower ranges, hedgehog areas etc. Indeed the area used seems to have covered the whole of Saunton Burrows not just the area now occupied by the East and West courses. If you're in the Clubhouse enquire after the book, which is by MacKenzie and Ebert, as it contains quite a bit of information about Saunton generally including all the alterations that have happened on the East course over the decades plus details about Herbert Fowler, club/course timelines etc.
atb
Later edit - a recent photo taken from behind the 18th East green
