I don't think we can be oblivious to the fact that to some degree increased weight on grass is going to have all kinds of deleterious effects. We can't forget that like us, grass is a living thing. I know I'd probably rather be rolled by that thing in the top photo compared to some of those monster steamrollers used around the turn of the century when no one knew much about golf agronomy. If rolling greens with things of that size and weight had been generally benefiical then obviously they would've continued to do it but clearly they didn't.
We may tend to forget just how little they knew about golf argronomy back in that early day.
After all, initially both Macdonald and Crump attempted to grow grass on pretty much straight sand sites. No can do C.B and George! It worked for a while and then totally failed.
Their next set was to bring in literally thousands of cart loads of manure and topsoil---something apparently both had not initially expected to have to do.
The idea of nutrition in soil as well as its ability to hold some moisture for a period of time had probably just not occured to them at that early point.
Enter Piper and Oakley of the United States Dept. of Agriculture and their original theories on ultra lyming. Unfortunately, those guys were not golf agronomists because there really weren't any over here back then but botanists and into the idea of getting most everything to grow.
So everything did grow on some of those early courses including massive amounts of weeds and all kinds and manner of other crap.
Whoops, back to the labs and the drawingboards.