Chris, Some very astute observations.
I think the best answer why is that many (And I'm not saying which ones) modern day architects are in fact listening to the modern protoypical golfer who wants total fairness when concerning their own individual golf game.
I like to think of it as The Death of Challenge and unfortunately it has been the one of the biggest factor's to lackluster design, next to utilizing the worst land imaginable for golf.
Today, golfers want to see the entire golf hole as much as possible, this including doglegged-style holes. They like their teeing grounds elevated, with a view and if possible of the entire surrounding environment, whether it be a old, but dramatic-looking abandon rock quarry, The Pacific Ocean, or a simple but elegant view of downtown Podunk.
Many golfers of today also want fairness in their penalties, suggesting fair bunkers that are playable for every handicap and can exploit the worst play as still a viable chance at acheiving par.
Fairway sand hazards don't even have to come into play! They are nothing more then a reminder to the golfer that he is on a golf course and not in a public park and serve an even better purpose of being a perfect road map to the golf hole.
There is a term in most golf rule books called Rub Of The Green and unfortunately, that ideaology is being eliminated from the game more and more each day.
Rub Of The Green is where a golfer has to accept the fact that either natural forces and elements or unforseen mishap created a ball in play to react unfavorably to the person who put it in play. When viewed by the protypical golfer of today, golf courses today are considered not very good when a golfer is challenged with shots that are less then desirable but somewhat interesting. This includes shots that found unfavorable places in sand hazards (The prototypical old style famed Merion White Face) or barrier walls where there is no chance of taking a full back swing. (The Road Hole at the Old Course of St. Andrews)
Simply put, many modern golf course architects are having to remove any chance of fate from design that might not only be intriguing, but challenging, all in the name of PLAYABILITY. This is what makes a golf architect a succesful and great designer by some peoples standards.
Another factor is that many modern golf architects want to earn themselves a respectable living. They will go out of their way to make their education as non-golf related Landscape Architects work to their advantage by dressing up their golf courses to look like the Garden of Babylon. This means the use of flowers, trees, and less then disarable water features that have no business what so ever being on a site that was once a barren desert or limestone quarry.
You have hilighted and really seems to be the mood of this day, is that the protypical golfer wants perfect conditions even after an El Nino or Hurricane Hugo. This is how they judge a great golf course--by how green and lush it is. A lot of this is to blame on an industry that thinks that "$75.00 green fees are a great deal, so will make ours $125.00!" after all, the award winning designer of the course just charged them $1.5 million to design the course, and that doesn't even include the cost to build it.
Jim Lewis is right. If you are of an age where you are trying to nail yourself down into a career, your attitude or view as of how golf courses should play is perfect for some of us, and you should become a golf course architect.
Do it for all of the reasons you have listed. Don't do it for the fame, fortune and awards that are supposedly bestowed upon the designers who have more or less forgotten everything the old game ever taught them.