Interesting and thanks for sharing. There were a few threads here very early about how golf holes sort of mimicked those mixes of open and covered spaces. Instead of the Hobbit, they used Bambi, and "Head for the woods!" I think it was called something like the hunter-refuge theory? Basically, people like to be near cover, going back to the old hunting days, I guess.
There have also been many studies about what other kinds of spaces make people feel comfortable, and I believe one of the reasons for mounds around greens (or greens set in natural valleys or bowls) is that people prefer a semi enclosed space, sort of a corollary. I recall one study about the street cafe's in Paris. Put a table out near a sidewalk and people are uncomfortable. A painted line of 6" curb make patrons feel they are in their own space, separate from passing pedestrians. A 3 foot hedge does that even more, but a 6 foot hedge, cutting off the sight lines over does it and patrons are not that comfortable there. They want to see what passes by, but also be separated from it a bit.