Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Tiger run away with the 2000 open at TOC? Wasn't the second best score only about 2-4 under par? What did they do to make the course play difficult for all but the one greatest player? They allowed it to get near cement hard! The course was not tricked up from its' normal presentation. They raked bunkers, they mowed the wide fairways, they didn't add more bunkers, just deepened the RHB. However, they did move a few tees back. Yet, TOC would have played enjoyable and competitive for most of us mortals from the regular everyday tees the day after the Open. Just turn off the water and mow the intermediate roughs wider, leading to untamed real rough. Couple that with the lack of yardage markers and no pin position indicators, and you have your answer. Combine that with a competition ball and we really don't have an issue. Forrest, I admire your attempt to call attetion to RTJII's ideas about the banning of wooden tees. But, without the ball changes, that won't cut it in the long run.
Had the TPC Sawgrass been rock hard in fairways last week, and if they would have been playing with a ball circa 1980s, the winning score wouldn't have been much better than par to 2 under. That is respectable.