Given that both duration and dress rules are often supposed to contribute to the decline in golf's popular appeal, it has always struck me as a pleasing irony that many of the clubs which have the most traditional dress codes (e.g. jacket and tie at certain times for lunch) are those in which the pace of the play is the fastest, precisely because of the adherence to foursomes. The Sacred Nine, Rye, Aldeburgh, HCEG, Woking, Huntercombe exemplify this paradox nicely.
Architecturally, there are clearly some courses (of which Worly and Rye are perhaps the most celebrated) where the layout is particularly suited to foursomes (when played properly, with the non-driver walking forward). Indeed at Rye the tee-shot at the 3rd is sometimes played before the completion of the 2nd hole, precisely to facilitate walking forward. But that is probably an extreme example.