My guess, and this is from my experiences here in Cleveland, is that the land along the edges of the lake, aside from the wonderful views, was much less desirable for use as a golf course. Take Whistling Straits for example. It seems that the most interesting piece of that property is near the 9th and 18th holes where the Seven Mile Creek runs through. Other than that, I believe that most of the property for the Straits and Irish courses was man-made. My old boss lived near there when he was a kid and he told me that most of the property there was fairly flat and not very interesting. I’m guessing that they used the fill from the pond that was built on the back nine of the Irish course to build those enormous mounds which have to be seen to be believed.
As for here in Cleveland, the land along the lakefront is not nearly as geologically blessed for golf courses as the much of the land a few miles inland. Aside from the views, we are not as fortunate to have features along our water like the amazing sand dunes that were found at Friar’s Head. What we do have for golf courses is located in the creek valleys of the Cuyahoga and the Chagrin and their many tributaries, and it is good.
One of the few interesting pieces of land here in Cleveland along the lakefront would be downtown where the Cuyahoga River spills in to Lake Erie. There is no way that any golf course could have been built there some one hundred years ago because the primary use of the river and the land nearby was for industry back then. It was used to transport the raw materials in to the nearby steel mills and the finished product out that helped build our country. Thankfully it is no longer burning because of it.
I guess what I am trying to say is that, aside from real estate, one could consider big industry, trade, and more interesting land a few miles inland as causes for the lack of golf courses that were built on the shores of the Great Lakes.