Niall, I'm not sure I understand where you see the course as not being too penal. It seems to me that miscues are easily potential double and triple bogies. Soem recovery shots are impossible to play towards a green or hole. I think some of the recovery we have seen from the junk or off line out of the way squiggly bunkers, are just a tribute to the skill and strength of the players making the shots. It seems to me, that playing this course by a mere mortal, even from up tees would be about as penal as you could handle, should you find yourself off line. I suppose if you want to surrender to a notion of just breaking 100, as a 12-15 handicapper, you could just tick-tack your way around and yield every hole to getting on in one or two over regulation, and hope for a great pitch-chip and putt game.
They changed the approaches to 8 and 13 before the 04 PGA when they eliminated the higher deeper FW approaches where one could bound a ball towards the green from well left of the green. Now it is more of a target approach. The tinkering with 18s left side is an interesting study in Mr Kohler and Dye's mindset on just what to do with it. I sat there Thurs next to the location of the second shot on the high right side mound and thought about this for quite a while. No one that came through while I was there even tried to carry the bunker nest. I thought that the carry area could have been done differently, with either merely high fescue, and one or two bunkers, or church pew sort of configurations. But, they chose the squiggly meandering bunker nest with interspersed bluegrass rough turf. Either way, it makes for a total puzzlement of what will become of your chances, should you tug one or try to carry it and fall short. But, even if we get to the last round with someone needing birdie on 18 to get in the race, I don't see them going for it, if they aren't Bubba long. I think they will all take the right safe side, IMO.