As far as rough being on the architect's palette, I would imagine that it is. Anything found on a golf course, from grass and sand, to cart paths and rough would be familiar to an architect. And while most might prefer the former, I would guess that a good designer would be familiar with implementing them all. I spent a good bit of time on a mower cutting rough in order to create better playability and aesthetics on a golf course.
Playability- Because of interesting topography and fast conditions on the fairways, balls would have probably had a tendancy to run straight from the fairway, through the thin strip of rough, and into the more variable native grass on a fairly well planned and executed shot. My job, at the request of the architect through my boss, was to cut the rough on certain holes to allow the ball to catch without as much penalty to the golfer.
Aesthetics- Another of my duties on the mower was to give the bunkers a look of being half in fairway and half in the native grass. The rough served as a buffer between the fairway and native areas. The visual attraction of the fairway/rough/bunker/native was a great feature that could not have been accomplished without good rough design.