My original idea in posting was that people tend to look at only one way to solve a problem, and rely too much on that solution
It seems to me that everyone has their own "hammer." Which is what the old saw refers to.
I worked in agency communications for most of my adult life, and we used it when someone would come down and tell us they needed a press release. My response was ALWAYS, "What are you trying to accomplish?"
For us, the objective came first, and then we'd look at all the tools we had to achieve it.
Similarly, when it comes to "improving" golf courses, lots of people have such a limited understanding of what's possible that they fall back on the same stuff. Around my area, narrow fairways and tall rough are a a lot of people's "hammer."
People here, like me for instance, also fall victim to it. My hammer is the mower. I believe that unless and until fairway width and/or rough height are reasonable you can never have a golf course that's interesting and playable.
K