[Patrick_Mucci]

I know it's spring in the Northeast, but recently I toured several courses  and noticed that the rough around the greens and in other areas was brutally long and lush, making recovery from it impossible for all but the very best golfers or the lucky.

Is this a byproduct of maintainance cutbacks or a clear intent by the club to toughen up the golf course ?

Why would a club make the rough so difficult that almost no member can cope with it ?

Why create thick, long, lush rough around the greens ?

Many clubs have replaced their old roughs with Bluegrass in order to provide for a consistently thick rough around the greens.  WHY ?

Should a 5, 10, 15, 20 or 25 handicap be presented with a very difficult shot, a shot beyond their ability, that has NO options ?

[Dan Herrmann]

Patrick,
Speaking only from my own experience, right now it's a function of weather here in SE Pennsylvania.  Grass grows big time this time of year.

Eventually the summer heat should do some real thinning.

[Rory Connaughton]

Pat:

  Like Dan I am in SE PA.  Our rough is fertilized this time of year and when combined with the natural spring growth becomes extremely dense (to the point of extreme difficulty).  With our climate, if we don't juice the rough aggressively now, it will thin out to nothing by August 1.

[Robert Emmons]

Patrick, What length are you looking at generally...3 inches or longer....RHE

[archie_struthers]

 

Pat,   some good answers already, also some supers feel you have to let it get a little dense and healthy now to keep it thru the season when the nitrogen stores start to break down from summer heat and stress

this time of year

A) it's hard to stay ahead of mother nature
B  see above LOL

[PCCraig]

I agree that this time of year the rough can get thick...and most times it will thin out over the summer with the extra heat. The key is if the Club keeps it as is throughout the season with extra watering and fertilizer. If they do that it is for one reason....macho-ness of members bringing in guests and showing them how hard their course is.

[Jamie Barber]

Although I have no experience on US courses, I know at some of the UK links clubs are not allowed to cut back the rough (or, at least, cutting is restricted) due to local environmental laws (Site of Special Scientific Interest).

2007 and 2008 were quite wet summers here - and the rough went crazy, even right on the edges of the fairway. At one monthly metal we had 33 entries and 27 NRs due to lost balls. I finished +6 over my handicap and got cut!

[Mike Sweeney]

Answer: Tiger Woods

I played Aronimink on Sunday and it is a very interesting case study for this question. First off, the course is in close to perfect condition at this time of year. The bunkers have been redone and they added a number of chipping areas around a number of greens that made it much more interesting than the thick rough around greens. They still had some of that too, but the chipping areas were really well done. Tiger is supposively coming up in a few weeks as they have his tournament in 2010-11.

I played the front pretty well, and then I hit #8 and had an approach from the right rough:



I was probably 145 and downhill in the right of this picture rough, and was partially blocked by the tree. I took a soft 8 iron and hit it Bob Rotella style, exactly as I envisioned, and it landed very gently on the fat front of the green and rolled off the back into one of the chipping areas. I hit that shot as good as I could and the green was not that firm. I just could not get enough spin on the shot to hold it. Made an unbelievable recovery for par.

Now should the rough be that high for member play? Not for me, but it was fair and balls were findable. Tiger Woods opinion probably carries a little more weight than a GCA poster, so I am guessing they are going to wait for his visit before they cut the rough!

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