Anyone have the details on the work Rees completed at Cog Hill (or a link to an old thread on the topic)?
More penal bunkering. Added length. Generally raised almost all of the greens by a few feet and closed off a lot of front entrances, so it's virtually impossible to run balls on to any of the greens. Cosmetically, they added a bunch of squared off tee boxes that just look different than the old version.
The bunkering was changed and the greens were reshaped a little on pretty much every hole, but the major changes were increased bunkering in the fairways on 1, 5, 8, 10, 17, and 18. This tightened the first fairway; increased bunkers on the left side of 5; added bunkers to the left side of 8 (and further up toward the green as well on the right side, but those shouldn't be in play for the pros); added bunkers all the way up the right side of 10; added bunkers all the way up the left side of 17; and tightened the fairway on 18.
Other major changes were the removal of the bunker inside the dogleg on seven, but replaced it with a big pond. They added the bunkers on 8, but took out a big willow on the left side, which I think makes the hole play easier than before. The restored the baranca in front of the 13th green, so there's more trouble if you miss short, but unless they shave that hill, it shouldn't make a huge difference for the pros. They reshaped the 18th green, narrowing the front lobe and moving the green closer to the water.
The way the bunkers are shaped, the grass grows down the sides of most of them, such that they aren't all the big flash faced bunkers. This can be a problem if your ball comes to rest near an edge, or worse yet, your ball doesn't make it all the way into the bunker. I can't think of a much more difficult shot than a ball that missed the 18th green and comes to rest on the far right slope of a greenside bunker. It's a downhill lie, pitching over the bunker to a green sloping away and toward the water.