Good thread. Some observations:
1. Fast and Firm is an ephemeral condition, which comes and goes with the weather, the skills of the superintendent and the predilections of the greens committee. On any course. Anywhere in the world. There is no good or great course of which I am aware that plays F&F (as this DG defines it) more than a few months of any year.
2. Even in those places where F&F is more common (i.e. GBI), the vast majority of golfers prefer green and lush, just as in the US. Where do you think the burghers of St. Andrews take their golfing holidays? Machrihanish? Carnoustie? Dornoch? No. They go to Spain or Portugal or Central Florida or Myrtle Beach, ride thier carts, drink their beers and are as happy as pigs in slop.
3. The reason that the august list of clubs TEP metnioned are trying F&F is the same answer to that age-old question as to why dogs lick their balls, i.e. "BECAUSE THEY CAN!" They do not have to worry about pissing off their customers or about where the money is going to come from if they need to increase the maintenance staff. Yes, they also probably have a higher proportion of "serious" golfers too, but as Ed B has said about a similar club, don't underestimate the predilection of even "serious" golfers at good ole' traditional clubs to like that green and lush stuff on the ground.
4. F&F sorts out the men from the boys, in golfing terms. While it can flatter the geezer who suddenly is hitting his drives as far as in the days when he was wrestling Betty Lou in the back seat of his father's Bentley, it also means that that same geezer is now going to have to hit his second shot from a tight lie. Its surprising how much harder it is to get a 5-wood airborne with an aging sweeping swing when your ball isn't teed up on an inch of grass. The bigger hitters are going to have to be not just long, but straight. Hitting it 320 but seeing the last 30-40 or that consisting of the pelota bounding into the gunge is not a pretty sight. Dan Kelly was right about the need for central "hazards" for a course to really take advantage of F&F. This is, perhaps, a limitation at Merion, e.g. Of course, as TEP has said, the green complexes get very complex when F&F is in full flow.
5. To me a realistic objective for any course, anywhere, is to try to incorporate many of the effects of F&F, if not F&F itself. Things such as shaving green sides, particularly at the bunker surrounds. Underwatering the approaches to greens that allow, architecturally, bump and run alternatives. Setting up central "hazards" or bottlenecks to make the bombers think a bit. Thinning out and underwatering the rough so mishit balls will roll further away from the preferred line of play.
6. Finally, of the many very good and widely travelled players I know who regularly play on links courses, I know of none who would want a daily diet of F&F. As links change with the seasons, so does the experience of playing them, and if there has been an overnight rain and the course is playing a bit softer and longer, you just play it as you find it. You don't go checking the weather reports to find a dryer course to play on! Anymore than you delibverately hit into the Devil's Ashole just to see what it is like. Or do you.......
End of rant
Rich