Not so tell tale,,, I played a place this last summer that skimped badly on drainage.
Everything was above grade and the place was a soaked mess with relatively little rain. My figuring was that since it was mostly built up, it should've drained much better. I was wrong, unless someone absconded with budgeted materials.
It's likely that the excesses of the 90's, made it very difficult for a casual observer, like myself, the ability to see what monies were well spent and what may have been wasted. Save for waterfalls and the obvious ego screaming accoutrement.
That was until more recent times, where designs-in-the-dirt-teams knock the ball out of the park with no budget, coming in total, under what most spend on just an irrigation system.
I've seen courses get their bunkers completely re-worled, not too long after opening. As a casual observer, my first thought was "how wasteful".
The irony of the last two statements is how the designer of the latter, criticized the earth moving of the former, within this forum.
It's been rumored that some design teams, that don't like cart paths, and know they are no good at building them, don't really care if they are known for being bad at them. Part of me really likes that.