Mike; your question dictates the conclusion. If you use the pro's as the standard, you are using the best players. They are paid to shoot the lowest scores. They are not playing for fun. Accordingly, they will select the shot that is best suited to shoot the lowest score. Given their skill level, absent extreme wind or very firm greens, there are less variables if the game is played in the air so that is what they do. From the time that steel shafts came into common use and greater consistency in ball flight and the ability to practice and groove a swing without breaking shafts became feasible, the aerial game took over at the highest levels. For those who say pro's can't hit half shots, they aren't watching what the pro's usually call "knock downs". But again, pro's seek the highest percentage shot; they are paid to do so.
For the rest of us, we are not as skilled and there are fewer consequences if we make mistakes, so the percentages change and the cost of miscalculation is less. We need the ground option more often as we have less ability to carry the ball and have less consistency, even those of us who are single digit handicaps.
What does that say about design? If you want to defend par against pro's, or provide a good challenge, firm conditions are very useful. Guarding against an aerial approach with small target areas and significant penalties for small misses is advisable. If you also want to appeal to the average player whose ego allows him to concede that he need not play like a pro, alternate routes which give ground options are a solution. MacDonald noted that when he advised alternate routes where one favored the long accurate hitter. He also favored greens with open approaches on one side and possible aerial approaches on others.
If your point is that better players play differently and we should recognize that, nobody should dispute you. The greater question is, what are the consequence for course design and maintenance? Can we build a course that is sufficiently challenging for the great players while providing enjoyment for the rest? Does every course have to try to do that? How do we want our courses maintained?