Any ideas?
Sure, I've got plenty of them. More than plenty, really.
Forget the word "architecture." You're right: It's dull, and it's academic-sounding. No wonder the readers say they aren't interested.
And you're right, too, about golfers' salivating at good golf-course pictures.
So: Eliminate the word! Emphasize the pictures!
Years ago, in search of assignments, I sent to Golf Digest a long list (a LONG list) of story ideas -- most of them having to do with (a) course architecture, and (b) golf history.
One thing I proposed was a monthly series of in-depth articles about classic courses -- blending architecture and history, and featuring any number of mouth-watering photographs (as many as possible!) of the courses that many, many golfers have heard of, but which few, few golfers will ever have the chance to play: places like Chicago GC, LACC, Prairie Dunes, Cypress Point, Seminole.
The editor who responded to me said, in essence: "Hey, great ideas! Thanks. But I'm sorry to tell you: Ron Whitten's got a ton of ideas, too, and he's constantly frustrated because we can't give him as much space as he wants. Sorry to say, but the readers don't give a rat's ass about course design. They want to know how to get rid of their slice."
I thought he was wrong then. I think he's wrong now. But it's their magazine, not mine!
Alas.