Very good point, David about the lack of wind's effect on (most) inland course designs.
I can't speak about middle America (played Prairie Duens a long time ago, once), but I think that the concept of a "prevailing" wind in coastal Britain and Ireland is illusory. It not only changes day to day but often during the day, with the tides. As David says, courses in such an environment have to have more width, as well as "hazards" placed at various points to allow the course to defend itself flexibly depending on wind conditions.
I do think, however, (just based on observation, not "facts") that wind patterns on links course are not random. There is a bias to two points of the compasss (i.e. N-S or E-W). Most links courses seem to me to tend to be laid out to minimize cross winds, but I could be wrong.......