I think Ian is absolutely correct when you talk about how greens are shaped and where pins are placed on certain days. I played a few weeks ago at a local course and as our foursome got to the tee box and we ran into the greens keeper and he said welcome to the hardest hole on the course.

All of us except for me hit the fairway. Two guys about 200 out, a woman about 160 out and me about 150 out, inside stakes of lateral hazard. The first guys hits the ball and it stops about 5 feet from the hole, AMAZING! Well at least we thought it was, the next guy puts his about a foot away and and the woman about 2 feet while I decided to just play my ball as it lied inside the stakes (GREAT SPOT/LIE) and I proceed to put my ball in the hole for eagle. Our group ended with EAGLE, BIRDIE, BIRDIE, PAR ... that hole wasn't showing all its teeth that day with a pin position that must have had balls funneling to it all day long.