George - someone has to say it: you have been spending way too much time indoors.
It's just a game to be played. That thread, this one, whoa... you REALLY need to hit some balls.
Easy for you to say, you San Jose-based (67 and partly cloudly today, I see..), 12-months-a-year golfer.
I'd rather be hitting golf balls right now, too, but my local course is enduring the 90 inches of snow we've gotten this winter in the Great White North that is Wisconsin this year.
This time last year, I'd already played a round -- in January! In Wisconsin! -- and was gearing up for the early spring rounds. I'm not sure I'll see green before Memorial Day this year. (Dick Daley joins me in these thoughts, and he's several latitudes north of me...)
Interesting thread; I will say I've played some very old, rudimentary courses over in Scotland -- Dunaverty, near Machrihanish, comes to mind -- that have a distinctly natural and weathered look. Blackwolf Run here in Wisconsin looks natural, but hardly weathered.