In all of the old photos of courses, I like that the rough is clumpy grass with some dirt and/or hard pan. Not good lies, but you can play from it. This is much more pleasing to my eye than the wall to wall thick rough at PB this week. And, it is much more playable for the non-PGA Tour golfer.
Perhaps one of the worst things ever for golf in the U.S. was double row irrigation.