Chip -- I have no point of reference since I played Merion for the first time last Wednesday. Yes, there was some roll in the fairways, though I wouldn't have called them fast. Some other observations:
1. First cut of rough was really lush and, for me, penal. The line between rough and fairway is razor sharp, and a drive 3 feet off the fairway settles down in what I believe is primarily bluegrass rough. It's only about 3 inches deep but for me but that was usually enough to mean that the next shot was not going to played for the green. Made several visits to this three inch rough but drew only one lie where I had a chance to get the club face cleanly on the ball.
2. Some fairways -- notably #11 -- seemed to have been somewhat arbitrarily defined. Fairway is narrow and the mowline is awfully straight. This is the one hole where the setup irked me. I hit a pretty good drive and missed the fairway by a yard. I tried to force a ball from the rough and made a mess of it. Had I been playing for a score I would never have gone for the green -- by this point in the round I knew how the rough was playing. It was like trying to move a ball on the other side of a mattress. Disappointing not to have a better crack at playing this famous hole.
3. Greens were slower, far slower, than I expected. Perfect surfaces, wonderful contours, but a putt of any length had to be slugged. Championship conditions?
4. Maybe it was one of them-thar days, but I had an unusual number of horrible lies in bunkers -- one plugged, two downhill, one under the lip. The plus side: I hit some excellent bunker shots, usually on the second attempt to get out of the sand!
5. Re the question of "normal play": everyone in my group scored significantly higher than usual, and the round took longer. Part of this was due to the fact that three of us were on an unfamiliar course, and relishing the experience. But honestly the conditions seemed severe. If i were in charge of the set up, some of the fairways would be wider (esp those where the landing area is blind) and I'd cut that rough so that players had a fighting chance to get the club on the ball.