Michael, excellent question and to think we have your friend Pat Mucci to thank for it!
Although the ever changing course argument holds very true for the links courses along the coast the vast majority of UK courses are in fact inland and less prone to those dramtic shifts in the weather. I look back to a trip my wife and I made in the south of England, playing many of the top line private clubs. Many, like The Addington and St. Enodoc were adamant that visitors would not venture back to the medal tees. Were they fun from the yellows, yes indeed. Would I have been able to play them quickly and competently enough to suit my sponsors from the whites; absolutely. Woking, West Sussex and Royal Ashdown Forest all allowed it. Most of these course were designed in the Golden Age and I think are the type of strategic course you see mapped out in most of the classic architecture books, with different routes planned for the A, B, C and D players. They weren't designed to have every class of golfer hit 7 iron into the green because that was the shot it was designed for. Instead the tiger rips it over the bunker, the B player gracefully skirts it and the C and D players are reqired to tack their way through the hazards. Courses designed in this manner probably require more thought to get them to work correctly, but prove to be more enjoyable to a wider spectrum of players. The idea of moving back once a month to test yourself in the Monthly Medal must be quite the treat after playing up for the other portion of the month.
I find this arrangement quite analogous to the driving habits in the UK. The fast lane is for overtaking only and once you pass someone you diligetly return to the slower lane. Compare that to American driving habits, four cars abreast, all doing 65, clogging a four lane highway, each driver oblivious to those behind them. Manners and coutesy play a role as well.