Sean,
I would say yes, good drainage is an architectural advantage, and a business one. One of my current clients has his players tell him they don't play in shoulder seasons because they aren't sure the course will be dry. He doesn't book many outings, because no one can be sure what the course will be like for their big event. Then, come summer, it gets too dry from their inadequate irrigation system, and golfers complain they can't hold shots on their hilly, cross slope fairways. So, there is a lot of advantage to consistency. The gca may not be designing for firm and fast, but then, with proper irrigation and drainage, we can design for some reasonable consistency of moderately dry conditions and predict how the ball might react within a range.
Tom, Don, Mike,
What really kills me is whether or not adding all the expense really solves problems, or just creates new ones?
I have sand capped solid rock sites. I am doing it at La Costa now, because their soil is so salt contaminated and water quality is so crappy. They had a few capped already, and we could see the turf was much better, so I was convinced it helped.
But, bunker liners? On rocks same thing. Elsewhere it keeps sand whiter longer, but its more expensive and it still needs to be replace. Tee mix and tiles? Part to part heads? Special irrigation on bunker noses?
I am just not sure how to justify all those costs. Is $30K extra for bunker face irrigation (or debt totaling maybe $3K per year saving that much in labor? If so, is it worth it to go in further debt for perfect bunker edge turf? Will golfers pay $0.10-$0.15 a round for that?
To answer Tom's question, I guess I am not in rarefied air quite so much as he. But, I do see the trend for more technological solutions in all areas of golf construction, just slower than the top end boys.
I wonder just how much bankers will get involved in those decisions moving forward as in my $x.xx per round example above? I think lots of those things are driven by non practical supers (not Don!) who recommend over doing just to be sure they can keep up, and of course, the salesmen of such products. Maybe the gca's trying to keep up with the Jones.
The pressure seems to over construct come from everywhere, and I am just speculating that the restraint will come from outside the traditional decision makers in golf.