Tom,
I heard Bobby propose that idea at the ASGCA meeting of May 2003. Does that fit with your time frame of being after his crew's visit to PD during Chambers Bay?
Either way, I don't think its a new idea, either from the very old courses, or new ones built not very well.......
But, he proposed unlevel teeing grounds and not using tees as a way to offset distance increases and bring back skill. Again, I couldn't know for sure whether they were original ideas, and upon reflection, would say they at least had genesis elsewhere.