Tony,
This spring the course where I play most of my golf had irrigation system issues, there was almost no rainfall and the wind blew like crazy. The soils are clay. The course played exceptionally firm and fast.
One good thing about rock hard fairways and greens, when the wind blows, is that it makes it easier to hit the ball on a lower trajectory, and you get a bit of extra roll when hitting into the wind.
I would be the first to admit that some of my most memorable, most "fun" shots (after the fact) have been low and running, usually because I have been blocked by tree branches as the result of a previous crooked shot. Part of the fun in those shots is that it feels like getting out of jail when successfully executed. They are memorable, too, because they are not common and have a one-of-a-kind character.
However, I would bet you could not find half a dozen members who thought it was more fun to play our course this spring when it was so hard and fast than in its normal condition. I wonder if I could find one actually. Without question, it FORCED one to play the ground game. The membership was on the verge of a full scale mutiny. No way would management survive if that was the condition on an ongoing basis.
I think those on this site tend to underestimate how difficult it is to hit balls high in the air, to a target, the correct distance. Either that or they can't hit that type of shot and want to take the advantage away from those who can. My sense is that the vast majority of players of all abilities have more fun hitting those shots on a regular basis than shots of the low running variety. Not that they don't get a kick out of manufacturing shots. But they want that to spice things up rather than being forced to eat it as a steady diet.
Part of golf is tactile. The feeling through the hands and body on a high trajectory shot from maintained turf is sweeter than the feeling of hitting a low running punch off pavement. As well, the sight of a ball in flight has never become routine for any of the players I play with, whether a scratch or an 18. Non-golfers do not get that.
So I don't think many golf courses have the guts to turn off the irrigation, as it is not what the vast majority of golfers want.
I realize these are extremes we are talking about. Forcing the ground game seems to take away one of the games dimensions. Encouraging the ground game as an option adds dimension. Ideally, you want to encourage the ground game as a sensible and fun play in certain circumstances. It is hard to do that for the really, really, really good player who can fly the ball and make it stick to anything short of concrete, but that type of player is, I think, an extreme rarity.