The science behind all sport seems to have been of real interest around the turn of the 20th century as many articles make reference to it. It was applied in this manner to golf by Willard Morse, M.D. in an 1887 article:
"Wherever Scots have come to congregate in any numbers Golf Clubs have sprung up. All nations seek a national game, all seek and find, and pay the claim of outing. And seeking, Americans pitched upon the old British game of rounders, and developed baseball, and there is virtually no reason why Americans may not come to a thorough knowledge of Golf, or why it may not be delegated an American game. Since it has come to Canada its friends there have found its calculation fascinating, its promptness of execution unqualified, its scientific features praiseworthy, as promoting mental enjoyment, bodily health, and the best worth of real good-fellowship. It is true that on first observation it may not seem to have the life and entertainment of baseball; and not being perfectly easy to acquire, it admits of no very brilliant promise. But, in this country, as in Scotland, it is safe to say that no game stirs a keener enthusiasm in those who have committed themselves to a serious practice of it, or who have permitted the sway of its extreme fascination. Not as slow as cricket, and not as fast as baseball, it still has the peculiar merit of adaptation, and may be the pleasure of exuberant youth, of strong manhood, of gentler days of age, and even of women, who are able to prosecute it to the attainment of no mean proficiency.."
No stripping out of any particular feature like bunkers, but an overall nod to science.