I have a buddy in Denver who I tried to get to tag along on a very generous invite to play Ballyneal. His response when it was offered was that he had heard that the conditioning was spotty and would take a pass. Instead, we agreed to meet in Denver for a day of golf. I suggested CommonGround, to which the response was "that place is a goat ranch." We ended up playing 36 at a Palmer designed club in town. The course in question did present a bit of architectural interest, if one was focusing on (a) forced carries, (b) three tiered greens and (c) maintenance practices that most benefit target golf.
In fairness to the masses, I don't think it's as much an issue of not wanting to learn about golf course architecture as it is a question of stepping outside one's comfort zone. Another buddy of mine cannot wrap his head around the idea of the 100 yard Putt or bumped hybrid shot that can be used to great effect at places like Bandon. He's normally a very intelligent guy, but for some reason in his mind this is not golf.
I have met and know quite a few folks like the two you describe. I don't play much golf with them as I suspect I am just a as foreign to them as they are to me. I finally had one of them level with me that he wasn't interested in "my golf". He was interested in "his golf". When I asked what his was, he said immaculate conditioning, awesome facilities, very high slope rating, gorgeous cart girl, etc. He said he didn't want to play architecture, he wanted play golf! Hopefully the game is big enough for both of us as the industry is weak enough as is.
Daryl:
Here's a third example of "their golf":
Talking with a casual golfer from San Diego, I asked him if he'd been to Bandon. He hadn't heard of it, and when I described it as links style golf, the response back was "I don't think I'd like it, I like to have fairways." It took me a second to comprehend how little of that response I understood.
Was he saying he preferred defined playing corridors?
Did he think that links golf was played without fairways?
Did this basically mean he wanted the course to dictate in a very obvious way where every shot should be hit?
For him, and others of the same mindset, is golf a mindless activity that requires no judgments, no vision and no imagination?