Jud,
Of course, there has always been a spectrum of courses built in any era. And at the high end, it really doesn't matter as much what the cost to build is. And, the middle 80% have always been minimalists, functionalists, or whatever. The label minimalism only matters at the top end, where marketing your course or marketing your name as an architect serves a big purpose, which is to generate more interest, more money, etc.
Maybe its just a marketing tag, more than most.
As TD says, he is willing to make big changes to one hole to minimize changes to another five, a situation I can recall many times over in my career. So, most would still call him a minimalist, or that a minimalist approach. But I can see JN making one big change to leave another six and he wouldn't get the same response, at least here. It goes from "Oh, TD moved earth on only one hole" to "Can you believe JN had to move earth on one hole?" So, its marketing.
I only hinted at the difference in approaches that define the two, and TD could sure elaborate more, if he cared to. I think most architects (save Fazio, Dye and a few others) on most good sites route to follow the land, and most come up with 10-15 holes that need little alteration other than building greens, tees and bunkers. Of course, some may level cross slopes on the fw more or less, etc. cut off more drainage, more or less, etc.
The more I think about it the more I think minimalism is more how the gca does his features. Does he start by following the land and work "good golf" in it, but rarely at the expense of moving the minimum earth, or does he think in terms of certain golf shots, and cares less about the natural ground? In the end, two gca's could be given the same site, routing, etc. and still build very diffrent golf courses, like Doak inheriting a Faz routing at Stonewall or him collaborating with JN at Sebonic.
And to be honest, either type of architect has to think about both anyway, and in the end, a great design solution balances the give and take somewhere in the middle. After all, design/landscape architecture is modifying the natural environment for a specific use. Leaving it as is is called a nature preserve! So, its a matter of deciding what is more important to you as gca, but in the end, you do have to provide a playable golf course that drains, etc. and do what you have to do.