"I would be more than happy to have that red stuff flow in what looks like the sea and creep down toward the green with perhaps some of that scrubby sand hanging about." Sean Arble
Keep the man on the other side of the pond! Just what the world needs, iceplant for fringes!
I am not sure how much that dune has been changed over the years by man's hand. If sand gets a little water and some nutrients, stuff will grow in it. Personally, the evolution that has taken place there is most acceptable . The amount of work that it would take to keep it as it was during MacKenzie's time would be considerable. I think that the membership and the list of wannabes like it just fine the way it is.
The subject of this thread is a departure of sorts for the architects, which though sometimes described as "minimalists", are really not. Simplicity without sacrificing interest and challenge was a strength of Ralph Plummer who designed or worked on nearly 100 courses, mostly in Texas.
With the expanding national economy post 1982, money was available to dress up otherwise non-descript sites. Fazio, Jones, Nicklaus and others designed strong, beautiful courses in similar terrain. The course Chip is alluding to resisted the lipstick and, in my opinion, it works just fine.