Mac,
This is a great distinction. A few weeks ago there was an interesting discussion about TPC Sawgrass's denaturing that included a quote from Pete Dye along the lines of what you're getting at.
But perhaps the most striking examples of this trend comes from old photographs. How many have we strained to recognize, being so different, so much rawer, than their current versions?
I think it must be human nature to want to take the raw and cook it. Maybe it's a cultural thing akin to Claude Levy-Strauss's culinary triangle, wherein he describes different methods of cooking as signposts for the culture of a society. They sort of reveal truths. If that's the case, then what does it say about our relationship to nature, or the relationship of golfers to nature? Yet perhaps there is hope. It seems we've made greater strides as humans than as golfers. Once upon a time certain animals were seen as evil or as menaces we needed to eradicate. How far we have come when the family of a man killed by a White Pointer (Great White) can plead for the animal to be left alone, and for society to agree.
And there are signs of progress even among golfers. Recently I was reading an Australian golf discussion board wherein the posters all agreed on the need to leave poisonous snakes alone, not simply for safety reasons but because they are a protected species. And while there was some talk of avoiding fines, there was a general sense of "live and let live."
But getting back to Levy-Strauss, maybe the most surprising thing of all to me, upon reflection, was that some part of me fundamentally thought killing those snakes the right thing to do, and the Australians' perspective took me by surprise. I guess I'll take my taipan roasted.
