SPDB,
Think about that picture of Hollywood.
Think about the play of the game in the era when Hollywood first opened.
There were no high tech, perimeter weighted clubs with low centers of gravity to get the ball up, turf conditions were probably such that lower trajectories were more the rule than the exception.
Yet, the course was played by all levels of golfers, perhaps every level acquired the methodology for playing the course according to their game or perished trying.
As I understand it, individual members removed most of the bunkering. Was it in the name of fairness, speed of play, enjoyment
who knows.
If the "old" Hollywood existed today, I maintain that it would be an Icon for golf, with everyone and their brother flocking to see and play it for themselves.
Pine Valley gets put in that category, but you hear many people say they love to play Pine Valley, but wouldn't want to do it on a steady diet.
Perhaps that's the secret to maintaining a course that tends to be punitive in nature, it has to have a removed, rather than a local membership.