Please bear with me as I try to get at this one through an analogy:
Students in the modern American education system (middle school and high school in particular) are not typically being exposed to what one might consider classic literature. It's not that the teachers don't want to teach it, it's that students have become almost unwilling to read it. They tend to find the meanings obtuse, the references obscure, and the language unitelligible or unaccessible. Ultimately, Dante, Shakespeare, Hemingway, etc., are not on many reading lists. They have been replaced by newer texts that address what might be seen as more modern themes and issues. The goal of this shift is not to dissasociate the students from the greats, but rather, just to get them reading in the first place. The theory is that once students are hooked on reading, they will at sometime (perhaps even voluntarily) pick up a classic, read it and appreciate it.
There is no denying that American sensibilities, attitudes and interests have shifted in the past century, or in the past few decades, or even in the past five years, and this is reflected in golf course design as well (such a shift is likely in the rest of the world, but I won't pretend to understand international politics and attitudes). So, now, the goal may be simply to use these newer housing development courses, which are arguably less intersting and less deserving of merit than our "old gems," to simply get people playing golf at all. And soon, once they are hooked on the game, and understand its history, they they will visit, play and begin to appreciate the classics.
Just an idea. Of course, it may be solely a matter of economics!!