How many great ground game properties are out there in the North American continent? Very very very few. so, the air game is inevitable.
I would have to disagree here.
While of course most US properties aren't sand based, there's no rule that says every green and approach has to slope TOWARDS the player.
a ball hitting a downhill slope WILL bounce and roll regardless of the base underneath.
Of course this requires some cleverness of greensite location in to ensure proper drainage, but if an architect is able to find or build 18 high points for greensites, it would seem, if the demand was there, that he could find a few lower points that still had good natural drainage.
The air game is a of course a big part of golf, but over time elite players have pressured architecture into leaving little of the shot's outcome to "chance" with the systematic elimination of "blind" features and greens that runs away which require a different kind've skill than sheer brute skill of hoisting the ball upwards