In areas of a course that are "waste areas," like under trees where it is difficult to grow grass or other non-fairway, non-rough areas, what is the best ground treatment? I have seen waste sand treatment, especially in dunesy areas. I've seen crushed shells at some Florida courses. I have seen scrub grass or high reed-like grass, which can slow down play in searching for balls. I have seen dirt that has been specially treated, such as I saw at Sherwood CC at the tournament there a week or so ago, whcih looked surprisingly attractive. At a course where I play, they have gone to bark and twigs, which I don't like because of the added penalty of playing from it, when you already have trees, etc, in the line of play. Does one treatment work better than others? I assume it depends in part on the area of the country and the surrounding grass and other factors. What do you prefer?
Should there be parameters on how far out of play the various treatment options should be? Should they be mixed on a course?