Ideal Rough Height

[AJ_Foote]

I've never considered the idea of an 'ideal height'. I think the best rough gives a player options and temptations - isn't that what good design is all about? If all you can do is hack a wedge out sideways, that seems pretty boring to me.

Plant the thought that the player might be able to clear the hazard up ahead, or even go at the green. The heroic shot well executed might come off, but the less than perfect shot will be punished.

I also concur with the comments about flying lies, as these create a more exciting risk/reward element, with the opportunity to play to the pin weighed against the possibility of an airmailed green, which usually leads to a far worse fate than a lay-up short of the green.

[Brent Hutto]

Another type of flyer is the dry brown lie, where once again the player has to play less club.  This happens on occasion with poa annua in the summertime here.

Dry fescue lies are supercharged.  The ball gets little or no spin, and they can roll out 2-3 times farther than a typical lie.

When I was at Ganton last year it was September and the rather thick fescue long stuff was finally browning out a bit after being super wet earlier in the year.

That taught me about what you're describing. If you could see a distinct green color to the long grass then it was the usual take plenty of loft, hold on for dear life and chop down on the ball. But if it was a patch where all the green was gone and it was light brown, look out. I could take an 8-iron back like waist high, swing through the ball and it would rocket out of there. I went completely over one green from 180 yards out with a half-swing 8-iron (that's normally my 130 club) although admittedly that hole was playing straight downwind.

That light-brown fescue flyer is far beyond anything I've ever experienced in squishy Bermuda rough. And sometimes that light-brown patch was just a couple paces away from the green stuff that won't fly at all. Just another of the ways those cool climate grasses are ideal for golf!

[Lou_Duran]

I'm in the half stroke belief mode.  That puts most rough at 1.5".  That should be enough to create a flyer lie, making the approach shot harder than if in the fw, and is reasonable to preferred by many average players as noted above.  

Can you grow and manage rough to promote the flyer lie?  Or is it primarily a function of a number of variables out of the superintendent's control (how the ball gets to that spot, which way the grass is growing, cart and foot traffic, etc.)?  From my experience, it seems like I've gotten fewer flyers with age and less strength.

Any thought to the placement of hazards and other features taking into account the type of rough and the possibility of flyers?