Can Newport set an example? Cetainly they can, but for whom and to what end? And what example are they setting exactly? Sure, they can set an arbitrary example of firm fast conditions but will anyone follow the example?
-Some memberships may tolerate yellow/brown areas, it depends on how educated they are about playing conditions and the like. My membership, I do not think would accept it, therefore, my Super uses "about 600,000 gallons a night" (direct quote from him) to water the course. But overall, the public and memberships don't want to see any yellowing on the course and this is why we now have tree-to-tree irrigation, at some point in time, right or wrong, Augusta National became the norm and the standard for conditions (though I have a feeling that ANGC still plays firm and fast, unless is rains. I could be wrong, I've never played there), though I'm certain any membership would brown up their underwear if they were told how much their dues would need to increase in order to have Augusta conditions (at least in the realm of 'average' private courses)
-Will they tolerate less than ideal conditions when Nature turns bad? Can't answer for everyone, but my membership is ok with it. Recently we experienced daytime high temperatures of 95+ degrees and then evening rain of more than 1 inch per day. This went on for 8 days. We almost lost some of the greens, and a few are still highly stressed. But we did our best to educate the members, and they were fine with it. It was totally beyond our control.
-Education is the key, I think most, or at least MANY memberships will agree to do a lot of things as long as they understand why its happening and how its going to benefit them in the long run.