Is there anything more artificial than ...

[Mike Hendren]

graduated rough?

[Pete_Pittock]

Back off. It has a diploma

[JESII]

Yes, tour prepared bunkers, but it’s close

[Paul Rudovsky]

graduated rough?

Be careful with questions like that...by that definition any cut rough is "artificial" and potentially the same could be said about cut fairways.  Quite frankly all golf courses are "artificial" and need to be (no one else cuts grass to that it will stump to 13' or even 6').  Graduated rough is a concept meant to deal with fairness

[Matthew Rose]

Better than dropout rough?


*duck*

[John Emerson]

It’s one of the crappier things about course setup.

[MCirba]

Agreed, Mike. 


Sadly, the USGA hasn't asked me to setup their US Open courses, though.   

[Bill Brightly]

graduated rough?

It is perfectly fine when the goal is setting up a course to test the best players in the world. Just like "tiger tees" and perfectly groomed bunkers, there should be a scroll on the bottom of the TV screen that says:


Warning, these conditions are not sustainable, Do not attempt to duplicate on your home course!

[Paul Rudovsky]

Better than dropout rough?


*duck*

Uniform "Dropout Rough" or "Punchout Rough", starting immediately after the 2 yard 1st cut along the edge of the fairway, was exactly what the US Open featured unit about 10 -15 years ago when Mike Davis introduced graduated rough.  And if you hit it 30 yards off line you were better off than if you hit it 5 years off line as the former meant the gallery had trampled it down.  That was the worst rough ever and it was standard in US open for decades

[Thomas Dai]

Think I’ve mentioned it before, maybe not, but it would be a fascinating comparison exercise to see a 4-round tournament played next week at WF-W with the exact same players, the same tees, the same hole positions as this week but with all the grass, yes all the grass, everywhere except on the putting surfaces, mown to fairway height.
Atb

[MCirba]

Thomas,


That would be my setup, as well.

[Tom Bacsanyi]

Think I’ve mentioned it before, maybe not, but it would be a fascinating comparison exercise to see a 4-round tournament played next week at WF-W with the exact same players, the same tees, the same hole positions as this week but with all the grass, yes all the grass, everywhere except on the putting surfaces, mown to fairway height.
Atb

It would be cool to see the players play off dead grass and hardpan dirt where the rough used to be after the mowers got done with it.

[Thomas Dai]

Think I’ve mentioned it before, maybe not, but it would be a fascinating comparison exercise to see a 4-round tournament played next week at WF-W with the exact same players, the same tees, the same hole positions as this week but with all the grass, yes all the grass, everywhere except on the putting surfaces, mown to fairway height.
Atb

It would be cool to see the players play off dead grass and hardpan dirt where the rough used to be after the mowers got done with it.

It certainly would.
And then have a further 4-day same players/tees/hole location tournament where they had to use balata and persimmon and blades and steel shafts and wedges with no more than 56* loft!:)
Atb

[JohnVDB]

graduated rough?

Almost every course in the world has some form of graduated rough.  If you have a first cut, you have graduated rough.  They just added a second layer.


My biggest gripe with the rough at all event is the desire that it be consistent.  I’d rather see patchy rough were you can get lucky or not.  There I some of that in any rough, I’d like to see more.  Especially around the greens where you might end up on a piece of hard pan between tufts of longer rough.

[Craig Disher]

graduated rough?

Almost every course in the world has some form of graduated rough.  If you have a first cut, you have graduated rough.  They just added a second layer.

Uh, Pinehurst #2?

[JC Urbina]

Michael,


Every golf course has a graduated rough if it has irrigation.  The closer the rough is to the water sourse the thicker it is, as the water thins out at the edge of the reach of the throw the thinner the rough becomes.