what is the gca thinking on "trampled down areas"?
can't count the number of times leaders of major championships have hit terrible shots only to find them sitting cleanly on an area where the patrons have been standing.
maybe the rough should be cut to reasonable length so that the gap between bad shot in the rough and terrible shot in the tda (trampled down area) isn't so enormous. or, shots that land in a tda could be required to be dropped in the nearest rough (not very likely).
these tda shots probably even out over time although they probably favor bomb and gougers more than the down the middle crowd.