I thought this topic might have limited discussion because eye candy can be extremely subjective.
It would have helped if you clearly identified what you meant in using the term.
I don't think of the setting of the course as "eye candy" at all. It's a big part of what an architect has to work with, and you would always hope to maximize what you are given.
Adding bunkers at the margins can be considered eye candy, or not. For an example, Tara Iti was mostly flat, and had to be stripped of all the commercial pine forest that had been planted and revegetated. We only grassed as much as we felt necessary, and the rest is a combination of reveg native plants [where you might lose the ball] and open sand [which are not technically bunkers but may be seen as such].
Yes, the white sand does add contrast and drama and may be seen as such, but it was also a practical solution to using all of the open sand created by the clearing work. I would not say the same for Old Memorial, but maybe that's how its designer looks at it, as well.