Eric,
There is no doubt any good business uses marketing and in the end golf is a business. In the current climate course managers and operators better be using marketing. Developers better understand the market for new golf any time they consider golf as part of the development. There is also a difference between marketing used in theplanning and development of a course and that used to market it once it is open. It is the former that I reference albeit too simply. The later I fully appreciate and our industry could do a better job at.
As for Bandon, my impression, and this is impression only as I need to read his book, is that the fundamantal maketing belief he used in determining what to do there originally was to say "I am going to do something really cool, something pure on a great site conducive to it and hire the appropriate designer(s) because I believe there is a large enough market that will love it." Because he is smart he has adapted along the way based on the particulars of the market that he has focused in on. He had a creative vision based on a taget market and he ran with it. Simple enough.
I think Forrest might be looking at "Retail Golfer" as a "mass" marketing term. Would it be safe to say that design geared towards a mass market, though good and fiscally successful, is rarely great or uniquely inspiring? Hmmmmm.
Responsible designers all use a form of market sense when determining the type, style, and character of course they are designing based on the identified primary end users(a marketing term) - private, resort, daily-fee, public, etc Of course, we do not just blow in and do whatever we want regardless of the customer. Okay, maybe a select few get away with that aproach.
What gets talked about here on this site is not for the masses. The masses are most impressed by Agusta and think TOC is a goat pasture. Developers marketing data tells us they need a golf hole with cascading waterfalls and lakes as part of the entry to their development. They want green, green, green manicured grasses and pretty landscape. Would it be safe to say that the Trump efforts speak to those trends based on his comments. The ease at which the tour players are getting hired to design courses also suggests marketing. Thank goodness some of them have some great designers working for them.
To relay a story, my father has been a successful GC Superintendent for many, many, and many years (sorry dad about the many). one of the courses he was at - a very high end resort course on the coast - had fine fescues in the rough and bermudagrass fairways and rough. He was under constant fire to "green up" the grasses by management because the marketing feedback they got from the players. of course on the coast bermuda is a bear to keep green because a general lack of warmth and sun. But he kept it very healthy, consistent and fairly firm for maximum playability. The fescues he tried to not over water also for playability. The result of course was things weren't always green. Also, the greens never got infested with poa. After he left that position things changed and they over seeded to make it "greener". Eventually turf conditions and playability went south and major renovation has since taken place.
As a designer I guess I keep it to the belief that golf is meant to be fun and inspiring. Beyond that, each project has different sets of design variables that me and my client determine are best suited for that particular effort.
Does that make more sense because I am not sure?