I think one of the most surprising things many of us learned in some of the historical threads here is the early prevailing thinking that it was viewed as best practice to route and grow-in a golf course and then place and build the majority of bunkering after some time spent studiously observing play.
The idea was that only through careful study would one best be able to identify exact positioning of bunkers, which makes some sense on the face of it. This approach was used at most all of the great early courses including Myopia Hunt, Garden City, Merion East, Oakmont, and even National Golf Links of America.
But as golf architecture grew more rapidly with the popularization of the game, such a time commitment and associated disruption of the golf course was deemed impractical. By 1927 George Thomas wrote in his book Golf Architecture in America - Its Strategy And Construction:
"In years past hazards were made after the fairway was in grass, the theory being that they were often misplaced otherwise, and that the course should be tried before their final positions were chosen.
Nowadays, it is found more desirable, for many reasons, to do grading, including trapping, before seeding, and the good sense of such practice is plainly apparent. First, it is a finished and not a patched job, and the drainage is more easily mapped as a whole if done at one time. Sand may be placed on the ground as the hazards are built, and it is not necessary to bring this in afterwards. Most important of all, the new fairways will not be cut up, bruised and soiled by the unavoidable tramping of teams, and the dragging of implements across them if hazards are made before seeding, while the completion of the course by one operation is more economical, and to play it after it is finished more pleasing.
If change tees have been provided, and optional hazards with open fairways for the short player arranged, hazards will seldom be wrongly placed. Incidentally, it is much easier to fill up a hazard, or portion of a hazard, and call it ground under repair, than it is to construct new hazards."