I was in Pinehurst last week and saw the changes. The fairways are already at the width they will be in the future. They are more like 50-75% wider - not 25% wider. The fairways do in fact go up to the bunkers from what I could tell driving around the course. The course i drying out and much of the rough has been stripped out on holes 10-14. The key to all of this will be this quote from the letter:
"The course will play more as it was originally intended—firm and fast and maintained with significantly less water than before."
I am skeptical the resort will do actually do this until I play the course. I've played hundreds upon hundreds of rounds on #2 over the last 20 years when my parents became members. Since the first US Open the course conditioning has pretty much stunk on 3 to 4 visits per year with the course always being way over watered. I wonder if this means the will stop over seeding. While there last week one of the pros told us that Paul Jett, the head greens keeper, has been fired.
What gets me in all of this is that after the first U.S. Open Pinehurst rebuilt #4 and went the way of Fazio/Jones (I don't remember which one actually did the redesign). However, at the time the hot trend in architecture was Sand Hills, Bandon Dunes and the natural look. Now that C&C are building the Dormie Club in Pinehurst's back yard it seems that the resort's owners may have awakened to the trend that hard core golfers desire. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.