Does Width Provide Options?

[Tom_Doak]

Mr. Dye used to tell me that the average golfer was BETTER OFF in short rough than in a tight fairway, and I don't think that's far from the truth.

Having a hard time seeing this one...anytime i take a full shot with any club I always want a nice clean lie, with the exception of chips/pitches around the green.

It depends on the type of grass, obviously, and the height of cut.  At Crystal Downs, the first cut of rough is at 1 1/4 inches now, which is about what it was when I first joined.  The ball tends to sit up and it's easy to get a club on it.  We took it to that height as a transition to widening the fairways, and now I'm not sure if we should bother widening the fairways.  It would definitely cost extra $$ to add another 5-7 acres of fairway and the playability is not much different.

[Erik J. Barzeski]

For pros the answer IMO is different.  However for amateur golf being in the fairway with any sort of medium length is a significant penalty.

Mr. Dye used to tell me that the average golfer was BETTER OFF in short rough than in a tight fairway, and I don't think that's far from the truth.

Having a hard time seeing this one...anytime i take a full shot with any club I always want a nice clean lie, with the exception of chips/pitches around the green.

I’ve played in scrambles with guys who loved to drop in the rough. Gave them a bit of a cushion. The cushion is a big thing for a lot of ams. They’d hate the super tight fairways at a St. Andrews.

[Sean_A]

Of course, longer grass means flaws in the sward will show up more in terms of playability.  I don't know the height of typical links fairways, but I would guess something like 9-12mm.  I wouldn't have a problem raising that to 15-18mm (if there were shorter areas around greens the same height as the fairway) and just push that height out 60 yards then have basically "natural" zones with a view to making alterations where reasonable. I don't think the subleties of design would get lost in grass that height.  I think that is probably much better than 30 yards of 10mm then hope the 30 first rough is kept to something like 25mm.  In my experience, once the idea of 50+mm is introduced as the rough then things can go to shit quickly.  I don't see much of a reason for that height of grass except on "special" holes where 60 yards of fairway isn't enough.

Ciao

[Jeff Schley]

A first cut of rough off the fairway is much more uniform than 2-3 inch rough which can cause a ball to be buried and all sorts of lies.  I do agree that the first cut allows for me and others to get the club beneath the ball, but I much prefer that to 2-3 inch of rough, which I can't imagine why anyone would prefer that to the first cut, much less the fairway.