This is a silly comment because I have played only two rounds of golf on the Old and New in St. Andrews. I’m not a good player but I didn’t lose a ball and thought the rough was very well managed, making recovery shots possible (in May). Some others have similar comments from different days, years. I’m curious if this was the product of maintenance practices, weather, budget, or just pure happenstance. My memory of my golf in Scotland many years ago is that the roughs were not automatic lost balls (didn't play Muirfield). Quite the opposite four years later on Irish links. I remember playing the last four holes at Portrush with my last remaining pellet. I happened to be playing the best golf of my life (still a modest achievement) at the time and most of my misses were barely off the fairways by a yard or two, and mostly from misjudging the wind rather than hitting a bad shot. Still, it was almost impossible to find your ball that October in Ireland.