Matt
I'm too lazy to go to the WSJ link, but your post reminds me of a round I played with friends at Fort William GC in the early 80's. The course (in the shadow of Ben Nevis) wsa new and the greens were superb, but the fairways........
Well, those green cow pastures of Britain that look so lovely from the vantage point of one's car at a 1/2 mile or so away, when viewed up close and personal...........
....they are rutted and mucky and full of cow patties and wafting odours of cow piss. The proper "maintenance meld" for a coed mud-wrestling tournament, but not for a game of golf.
We were on our way form Dornoch to Turnberry, and weren't planning to play, but my pals were desperate for a game after 4 hours in the car. Of course, this happened to be the first round that we had agreed would be played by strict Marquess of Huntley rules--"play it as it lies, or die!" It was murder.
But (SILVER LINING ALERT!!!!!) from that point on, I knew for sure why golf, at it's best, was and is only played on linksland, where even cow patties eventually merge seamlessly with the soil.......