Mike
I'm not sure the colour of the sand is the issue (assuming you think there is an issue). I just find the scale of them and the general shapelessness of a lot of them not very appealing. I'll caveat that comment by saying I not actually been there and commenting on what I've seen on TV.
Niall
The bunkers look unappealing on TV-especially from an overhead, and are quite glorious and terrifying in person.
TV fails to display the sheer depth and scale of them.
I have less of a problem with the whiteness on that emerald green backdrop from the annual rye.
The originals didn't look overly appealing to me, but then again, that's just a guy looking at a picture.
The "originals", or at least older versions, were smaller, and some looked out of of scale to me the other way(too small)
But then again, that's just looking at an out of context picture.
I firmly believe the lack of BIGNESS is one of the main charms of golf in the UK and Ireland, and the reason Americans cherish their visits.
Sadly, we rarely import the thing that makes those places so cool and timeless(scale)
Way OT-Augusta is a good example of how just about EVERY SINGLE THING in golf has grown.
Some things, IMHO, are not better when bigger, and recently, especially this year(curmudgeon alert) I concluded that Augusta has crossed the threshhold from cutting edge to simply never ending scale,growth and BIGNESS, sometimes innovating for the sake of innovating.(if they want real innovation they should investigate a way for a patron to have some clue how a player not on the leaderboard is doing-manual leaderboards often don't have all the updated leaders-especially before Sunday-and there's only one scoreboard with ALL players on the edge of #1)
Despite the fun of watching manual leaderboards, which I do enjoy, when you attend live, you feel as if you missed nearly all of the event.
But I digress...