Pat,
I think it was Perry Dye and he went through a short period of trying to design courses on less land to save money. That one was for an owner who more or less pioneered the concept. I actually did a routing for him, and was dismissed for proposing a par 66 to 68 golf course totaling about 1000 yards less. He was pretty insistent that it be a regulation course, obviously.
Related LV news, I got an email that the course I did design is up for sale - Stallion Mountain. Always a bit sad to see a project go through difficulties.