"As someone who plays at a course that features deep heather like this (Hindhead GC), both on bunker faces and on various mounds, I strongly agree with the sentiment of Mark and Rob's comments.
It may look pretty, particularly when the heather is flowering, but if it gets too deep then it does little or nothing to enhance the enjoyment or interest of actually playing the course."
Daniel Robson:
It does little to enhance the enjoyment or interest of playing the course??
Do you really think that's what architects want to do for golfers---eg enhance golfers' enjoyment or interest in playing a golf course??
OH SURE, I know a lot of golf architects have said that's their ultimate goal but we who are really in the know realize perfectly well every single one of them was lying through his teeth. Secretly, and some not so secretly, they all want to torture golfers and psychologically beat the ever-living stuffing outta golfers, no matter how strenuously they try to deny it. It is a provable fact that every single golf course architect who ever lived suffered through some kind of problematic or psychologically scaring childhood and this is their way of getting back at the world without going to jail.
Actually, the truth is it's deeper than that. If a golfer gets in purple junk like that on a Tom Doak golf course, for instance, they shouldn't even bother to blame it on Doak---they should probably blame it on his great-grandmother, as she might be the one ultimately responsible for that thick beautiful purple heather or gorse that gobbles up your golf ball!