Ally,
Then and now, I think MOST courses were located near where people would want to play, on the close outskirts of major cities, despite soils. Having players is always the first consideration, no?
Soil hasn't changed. In those days, they knew how to move earth to create surface drainage, and probably tried to choose gently rolling sites without a lot of flat, poorly drained areas, although the old books show filling some swamps.
Drainage of poor soils has gotten more sophisticated. They seemingly used ag methods of french drains for sub surface drainage. However, railroads and paved roads had started using surface pipes years before, but I get the feeling golf was viewed more as an ag related thing, and not worthy of all the engineering that went into highway and railroad drainage, mostly for cost reasons.