I'm affraid to say that I reckon that AN-syndrome, well, maybe ANS should be renamed TV Syndrome, is alive and kicking in the UK. A couple of examples.
Many years ago I was a member at a links course north of the border highly praised herein. This was around the time when UK TV started to show a lot more US golf. "Why can't our greens be as green as those we see on the TV from the US" was the kind of phrase expressed. The course concerned had a greens irrigation system but it was used sparingly and the greens were firm and the ball upon landing made a lovely 'thump' sound but took spin from a properly hit shot and the ground game was pretty much king. A couple if years later the greens were soft and spongy and a year or two after that machines were pulling thatch out on a regular basis.
Move on a few years and at a parkland course where I play mostly these days members regularly natter about stimp readings and the greens (and fairways and tees) needing to be green and how we must have fairway irrigation and a lake somewhere to collect more water. The worst culprits proposing this approach seem to be the members who, sorry to say it, not only like TV golf but also visit or have visited the US (or southern holiday destination Europe) and return gushing praise for green and believing watering is the only way to go.
Back to TV. Now golf is on TV a great deal these days but TV golf is really just entertainment. When you visit the theatre or watch a movie the actors wear make-up and the background scenes are mostly fake. TV golf is also theatre/entertainment with all sorts of things added to venues for the days of the tournament that are normally not there, colourful shrubs and plants in pots and coloured divot mix and awnings to block out unsightly views and the like for example and courses frequently closed for play for periods before and after tournaments and bigger maintenance crews and more machinery on site before and after as well. TV golf isn't real golf, it's phoney golf and as such we should be taking what we see on our screens with a large pinch of salt rather than following it blindly. Not sure that average Joe Golfer sees it this way though, unfortunately, so until lack of water availability really kicks in and/or water costs escalate hugely I find it difficult to see things changing and in generally damp, wet, temperate UK it won't be kicking in any time soon.
And now that even famous links courses are installing fairway watering systems...best not get me started on that one!
Rant over (for now!).
Atb