I was watching the AT&T National at Congressional on the weekend and, while it seems to be a majestic, “old style” course in great condition, I noticed something that is common with most of the courses on the PGA Tour. The courses are always set up with thick rough and the fairways are narrowed considerably by this rough. This process, however, means that all of the bunkers/hazards, and even trees, are not in play because the rough stops the ball from reaching them. By setting up the course with less rough it would ensure that a misdirected drive would run further into trouble and create greater angle of approach issues for the players. The rough actually makes it easier for the players as their strength, equipment and, mostly, short distance of approach shot required means they don’t care if they are in the rough.

If this process was combined with firming up the course so that poor drives ran further into trouble and that approaches from the wrong angle were nigh on impossible into firm, fast greens I think we would see a return to pure shot making ability. This would see the best ball striker win, not the best putter, and would in fact “protect par” far better than thick rough.

What do others think?

I expect that the people setting up the course for the tournaments have perhaps had two thoughts in mind.

Firstly maybe its more likely that players will wind up in the newly created rough than its the case that players would wind up in the original hazards even under firm conditions.

Secondly perhaps they feel that this rough is itself more difficult to deal with than the original hazards.