Bill,
This is why this is potentially such an affront. The charm of the place was that you could essentially play the entire course with a putter if you so desired. This puts their claim that they have the best interests of the course at heart in bold relief.
More to the point, I think this might be an example of making a change to a golf course just to challenge pro golfers when the pin is on the right side: can they hit a very small target landing area over the new bunkers and allow the ball to pitch onto the green, or can they hit a high lofted shot that holds the green?
But what about all the other golfers hitting much loger clubs, say 5 iron or more and need far more room for their ball to roll, who now have lost their landing area?