trampled down areas (TDAs)

[rboyce]

what is the gca thinking on "trampled down areas"?

can't count the number of times leaders of major championships have hit terrible shots only to find them sitting cleanly on an area where the patrons have been standing.

maybe the rough should be cut to reasonable length so that the gap between bad shot in the rough and terrible shot in the tda (trampled down area) isn't so enormous. or, shots that land in a tda could be required to be dropped in the nearest rough (not very likely).

these tda shots probably even out over time although they probably favor bomb and gougers more than the down the middle crowd.

[Dean Stokes]

Seems we have this conversation after every major now. Perhaps the spectators should be much closer to the fairway now that the players are so wild in their attempts to just bomb it as far as they can.

[C. Squier]

[David Schofield]

I have to assume this is the first time a Back to the Future II Hoverboard has come up in conversation on this site...

[Bill Brightly]

Personally, I'd like to see a mandatory drop out of TDA's back into the rough as it was prepared for play...but I have no idea how you could enforce this rule.

[Dave_Miller]

what is the gca thinking on "trampled down areas"?

can't count the number of times leaders of major championships have hit terrible shots only to find them sitting cleanly on an area where the patrons have been standing.

maybe the rough should be cut to reasonable length so that the gap between bad shot in the rough and terrible shot in the tda (trampled down area) isn't so enormous. or, shots that land in a tda could be required to be dropped in the nearest rough (not very likely).

these tda shots probably even out over time although they probably favor bomb and gougers more than the down the middle crowd.

rboyce, et al:
Playing the ball as it lies and playing the course as you find it are two of the basic underlying priciples on the Rules of Golf as put forth by James Tufts in the first Rules of the game. 
It is not the player's fault that spectators are admitted or where they are allowed towalk.  If the player gets a break so be it. Every palyer hits plenty of shots that give them a bad break.  See Ben Curtis on the seventeenth hole yesterday.
Best
Dave

[David Stamm]

what is the gca thinking on "trampled down areas"?

can't count the number of times leaders of major championships have hit terrible shots only to find them sitting cleanly on an area where the patrons have been standing.

maybe the rough should be cut to reasonable length so that the gap between bad shot in the rough and terrible shot in the tda (trampled down area) isn't so enormous. or, shots that land in a tda could be required to be dropped in the nearest rough (not very likely).

these tda shots probably even out over time although they probably favor bomb and gougers more than the down the middle crowd.

rboyce, et al:
Playing the ball as it lies and playing the course as you find it are two of the basic underlying priciples on the Rules of Golf as put forth by James Tufts in the first Rules of the game. 
It is not the player's fault that spectators are admitted or where they are allowed towalk.  If the player gets a break so be it. Every palyer hits plenty of shots that give them a bad break.  See Ben Curtis on the seventeenth hole yesterday.
Best
Dave

To go hand in hand with Dave's comments, this is why heavy penal rough, IMO, is not the best way to "toughen" the course. The outcome is not proportionate to the mishit when you have spectators on the course. And it leaves the "set up" to challenge the players rather than the architect. Yes, the set up is important, but not to the point where it supercedes the design intent.