John:
The thing that struck me most from watching the U.S. Amateur stroke play round at Common Ground was how firm the greens were. They are never anywhere near that for recreational play ... even the best players' best iron shots would bounce three feet in the air and ten feet forward, before they had an opportunity to spin and check [and they couldn't do that, downwind].
It had some different effects than I expected. For example, on our third hole the hole location was in a little swale in the green, just beyond a higher front tier. I expected most of the players to play past the tier on the fly to avoid a bad kick, and hope for a little help from the backstop behind the green. But, several players landed their ball on the top tier, and the first bounce carried it neatly over the downslope right next to the hole, where it stopped. I had been worried that the hole location rewarded the guys who could get up close to the green in two, over the guys who hit two straight shots and a good wedge shot, but it played just the opposite ... the tier in the green affected the players who were hitting SHORT third shots much more than the players who were hitting full wedges in.