I agree with Jim. It seems to me controversy stems from people disagreeing about something, and therefore almost everything will be controversial to a degree. Whenever two or more people look at a golf hole, an aspect of a golf hole, or an entire golf course and have differing opinions, you have controversy. Great and highly respected golf architecture is talked about more than lesser-thought of courses, so consequently some form of controversy will be the result.
So I guess my answer to the question is not that controversy is essential to great and highly respected golf architecture, but it is more a bi-product of great and highly respected golf architecture. Like Jim says...I think it's good for the game, because it gets people talking about it.