One way or the other, you're playing the same shots all the time, bomb and gouge or pitch and putt. I've simply seen design "trends" go too far but some of the collection gets recycled ultimately by the trend setters… bell bottoms have comeback I see… maybe there dis nothing new under the sun.
I think this idea that you play the same shot all the time when playing off short grass around the green is completely wrong.
The fact that the grass is short means that you can make contact with the ball directly with your clubface. This means you have the ability to control the spin and trajectory of the shot and adjust both of these depending on what is sort of slopes are between the golfer and the hole.
The fact that putter is the default option for the conservative golfer or the less confident/skilled golfer does not mean there are not better options. Often the ability to take the slopes in the foreground out of play can be very advantageous and can narrow error.
If one grows up playing golf courses in the style of Bandon it s easily possible to develop 10- 15 different types of shots to play around the greens. If one grows up playing US parkland golf, they wll often struggle with the tight lies at places like Bandon. It's far easier to grow up with tight lies and learn to play out of rough than it is to grow up with rough and learn to play off short grass.