TEPaul,
I now understand why you post the things you do.
You forgot to wear your catchers mask and helmet when you were shagging balls for your dad
My dad used to practice in a similar fashion, working the ball in a variety of flight patterns. Remember too, that the sand wedge was a new club for them, prior to Sarazen inventing it, they had to rely on hand and wrist action in order to execute exotic shots.
But, Littler, Casper, Palmer and others drew the ball.
Hogan was the exception rather than the rule, and he never hit the power fade, nor did he hit the ball anywhere near as high as Nicklaus. His fade was more a result of trying to undo the hook that plaqued him in his early career.
Softer greens would seem to indicate that any ball flight would be accepted. I would think that hard greens would promote the fade. I think Jeff is correct in that the fairways became soft and unpredictable, and thus the pros took almost exclusively to the aerial game.
But your right, the shotmakers hit whatever shot was dictated by the architecture or situation. Today, for the most part, that is a lost art. Even Hale Irwin lamented its diminishment due to self correcting equipment, to me.
Even though we had a drought this summer, most courses seemed wet, even GCGC.
Unless the availability of water goes down, and its cost goes up, I can't see any internal change, that will reverse the trend Jeff described.
P.S. Didn't you start getting headaches after being clocked by two or three balls.
P.S.S. Which ones hurt the most, the ones you saw but couldn't get out of the way of, or the ones you never saw