Tim,
You raised a most important point when you said, "Where is it written that just because an architect lived 80 yrs ago, everything they ever did is and forever will be much superior than what any practicing architect could ever come up with of refine?... Just because something worked 80 yrs ago and was maintained differently and played with different equipment, should it be sententenced to forever remain that way?"
You are right. Tilly, Ross, Mackenzie, Flynn and the others all designed some crappy courses. Then again, so has every other architect since the dawn of time. If they hadn't their great works would never have come to pass.
Balance is needed. What is often forgotten is that among the architects who redesigned and/or renovated many, many courses were Tilly, Ross, Mackenzie, Flynn and all the others.
It isn't that they disliked or disrespected the work done by their contemporaries as that they were simply trying to make a living. That architects today work in the same manner is neither wrong or disrespectful.
What is, and this is where I am very critical, is when someone misrepresents the work that they are recommending. Let me give you an example.
A little over a year ago an architect seeking the job of renovating an lesser-known Tilly creation told the green committee chairman something very interesting. He had informed them that he was a "Tillinghast Expert" and the members of the committee were most impressed with how he kept poitning out features where "Tillinghast definitely would have put a bunker here, mounds there" etc... and that by putting these features back in they would be "restoring the golf course to its proper Tillinghast heritage."
Of course the fact that Tilly NEVER put those features there in either the original design or consequent visits never seemed to enter into the conversation.
It is this type of misrepresentation that is wrong and that happens far too often.
Every club owner or membership has the inherent right to recreate the golf course that is in their care. Hopefully it will be done in a manner where either they or the membership are pleased and can spend many hours of enjoyment.
Just last night I saw a clip of Arnold Palmer speaking of what is most important to him in designing a golf course and what he hopes he will be rememberred for. He said that above all else he wants his courses to be remembered as being "fun."
There's a word that doesn't often get said when golf course architecture and design is being discussed...