I began thinking about this question in another light, and as the thread is moving towards page 3... figured I'd thread-jack instead of starting a new one.
Do "architects" prefer to separate the process from the final product? Do they prefer the rock not be lifted to expose what actually happens? Why is the press so reluctant to lift the rock and take a good peek under and report the state of affairs, the process of making sausage to the public as good, professional journalists would tend to do? Report to inform the public about what is unseen and perhaps to some unseemly. Will they lose friends? Advertising? Invites to new course openings?
The public has been fed a whole lot of synthetic events, reported as news about the latest and greatest project by some pseudo architect and his "hands-on" effort, coupled with their "giving back to the game". It's not much more than propaganda masquerading as journalism. It poisons, dumbs down, and perverts the architectural record of a vast segment of what should be an industry reflective of the honorable game it is associated with.
If process is so important, as noted in this thread, how can it be separated from architectural credit. Does it really matter? If you look on GCA it does to many, as folks hash out who the real architect was at Bethpage Black, or who was involved at Merion on threads that could double as encyclopedias. Why not have that simple standard for all courses so folks don't have to dig through the smoke and mirrors set up by ersatz architects marketing departments, and condoned by the silence of architect associations to find the truth in say 10, 20 or 50-years of who actually did what?
If the type of recording of golf course design went on scorecards at golf tournaments, there wouldn't be mere DQ's, but participants in the industry banned for life.