Man, I actually used to entertain some wild theories myself back in my twenties, thought maybe there was more to the official story. But then I watched a documentary with actual engineers explaining how the steel columns buckled from the heat, and that grounded me real fast. You can't argue with physics, and that guy at the bus stop clearly never took a basic science class. It's wild how people pick one detail and build a whole fantasy around it, then just ignore every other fact that doesn't fit.

Read a piece in a golf magazine last year about how some courses are adding these gimmick holes to squeeze out extra money. Most of them are trash, just a way to sell you a drink at the turn. But what you're describing sounds like they actually built something with real character. That false front and the shelf thing, that's not an accident. A course near me did something similar, charged $50 for a par 3 over a pond, but it was just a flat green with no danger. Total waste. Your pro shop guy saying they keep that shelf as a feature tells you they care about the design, not just the cash grab. I'd say play it a few more times before you judge it completely. Sometimes a hole that looks cheap at first reveals its layers, like a good putt that breaks twice.