What does "McDonaldized" mean to you?
McDonaldized, to me, means the effect of globalization to wash out diversity and force things to a common standard, in the process killing off things distinctive to a particular area.
The idea is you could walk into a McDonalds, anywhere in the world, order a Big Mac, and not be able to taste any difference from a Big Mac anywhere else in the world.
Applied to the play of golf, the idea is that the "American" style of play is spreading globally, which in turn homogenizes play to a single standard, the "American" standard. It washes out the diversity of play that found niches in the particulars (architecture, climate, terrain) of local courses.
We've certainly seen this in regard to the conception that there are such things as "model" swings; thus, the continued fascination with the success of Jim Furyk, Jim Thorpe, etc. etc. Do we look on their swings any differently than we do the Florida Panther (not the hockey team!), namely as a dying species the likes of which are not long for this world, as oddities belonging in the antiquities section of natural museums?
In the case of Ogilvy's pitch, that seemed like the kind of shot you'd need to play far more often on Melbourne Sandbelt courses, and not that often on U.S. courses -- well, maybe you'd have the shot, but the conditions on the typical U.S. course (lush lie, receptive greens, etc.) are so different from Melbourne that you might as well be talking about two different shots.
I guess the "big picture" is that golfers of talent come to play the PGA Tour, which tends to require a specific type of game, so they learn to play that game. Any skills they might have developed through play on a specific course, or specific style of courses, atrophy as a result of their disuse and explicit lack of reward.
Furthermore, developing golfers can watch PGA Tour events on television, so they see what shots are required and instead of developing a game suited to their home course or environs, they develop an American-style of play. Lastly, because crap rolls downhill, all the rest of us end up playing that game because that's the only one that's taught, and because golfers often learn by mimicking the swings of professional golfers.
I think this problem goes beyond the architecture. I suppose links courses come closest to rewarding diversity of play, and maybe some of the newer "minimalist"-type designs that allow for the ground game.
But just because that style is accounted for doesn't mean it will survive (or has survived, in some places) the invasive American style. I mean, Jeez, Monty's a Scot and he hits the ball that way?! Hard to think someone from the West Coast of Scotland 100 years ago would even recognize Monty's game as "Scottish," IMHO. Surely he can play both types of game, but then what does *that* say?
So all I'm saying is that Ogilvy's shot reminded me of what probably will be lost, probably has been lost, thanks to "globalization." That's progress, I guess. Steel replaces hickories and with that one swing wanes while another one waxes.
Mark