I am not advocating elimination of bunkers but in many cases there is merit for less of them. A wind swept sand covered mound or sand filled hollow looks great on the links course, a blowout bunker at a place like Sand Hills looks awesome especially when you see dozens of others off the course in the surrounding landscape, but a pit of white sand in the middle of an acre or two of manicured green grass - you tell me?
Being about 3/4 of the way through a 2-month holiday in Scotland, bunkers and their effect on scoring are certainly at the front of my mind. And the fact that there are virtually none of them that look like what you described above is interesting. Even on places like Tarbat Golf Club and Reay Golf Club where the budget is a tiny fraction of, say, Royal Dornoch, they manage to revet pretty much every one.
It doesn't take many of that kind of bunker to impact the play of a hole. Of course there's also the difference in attitude about golf between Scots and Americans. I said a few years ago on here that Americans, and Tour pros, think of golf as a test of skill, while Scots see it a test character. This trip I've talked to a few Scots about that, and they generally agree. It's the old fairness issue, IMHO. They just don't seem to be bothered by holes/hazards that border on being impossible to negotiate.
Given the difference, I have had a preference for grass hollows, with short or long grass around the green, and grass hollows with longish grass on fairways.
My preference is simple, I think longer grass in hollows around the green bedevils the best players because they make it harder to control spin while bad players like having the cushion under the ball. The difference between that and a bunker is really noticeable in the groups I play with that are mostly seniors with handicaps in the mid teens and higher. They NEVER hope a ball goes in a bunker.
And we've all seen Doak's theory about using short grass as a hazard. Which I agree with for the same reasons. "My guys" will putt almost every time from there, while better players have to make some decisions, which often seems to baffle them.
In the end, anything that makes golf simpler for bad golfers and more complex for really good ones is ideal in my world.