Could it be that the reason for the lack of quality from the announcers was due to their lack of familiarity with the course and the game which is played on that course ?
No, it was the lack of a strong producer to know what he wanted in a telecast – how to weave in the story lines, adapt to changes in the leaderboard, while staying in ABC's (and whoch should be ESPN's) style, which was different in two ways in the glory years from CBS and NBC.
First, ABC had rotated play-by-play by segment, not by hole. McKay would work a segment with Marr, then Alliss would work alone, and so forth. When Whitaker came along, it was McKay/Marr, then Whitaker/Marr, then Alliss, and so on. McKay/Marr would always get the first and last (in regulation) segment.
Second, the foot soldiers, Rossie and the like, would talk after the booth set up the shot, but without an audible cue. They knew when to come in and were succinct. (None of this, "Johnny, he has 149 and has an 8-iron." It was just, "He has 149, an 8-iron from a horrible lie.")
CBS and NBC threw it (and still throw it) from hole to hole, which meant a loss of continuity in the train of thought at times. In contrast, McKay or Alliss, natural storytellers, could build on a theme for eight or 10 minutes. By 1980, ABC's announcers all worked out of the same position, which eventually was near the 18th hole to give a real backdrop for the open of the show, rather than a Chroma-key (as seen in the 1971 U.S. Open).
For the longest time, Chuck Howard was ABC's golf producer. He and Roone Arledge also fancied the high crane camera (as BBC always has) to show the ball in the air in relation to the ground.
CBS's Frank Chirkinian, not allowed to use them at Augusta National, had lower angled cameras, and was never infatuated with the flight of the ball against the sky (as NBC was before Tommy Roy took over in 1995). Chirkinian wanted the reaction shot of the player, figuring his face and body English would tell you how the shot would turn out. Then he'd cut to a shot of the fairway or green and we would (or would not) see the ball.