Doug
To my recollection it's been a gradual and continuous process, starting in the mid-80's/early 90's. I think the original tranches were about 10-15 yards on each side of the fairway in the 80's, mostly in the drive landing areas, and particularly to the right. By the green, long left is still pretty tight, as you remember, but a lot has been taken away in the second shot area, 100 yards in to the green (remember that 7 is a par 5 for the "average" golfer), again particularly on the right. All that being said, the hole is still "hard" enough to have handed me a 10 in the Club Champ. a couple of years ago........