NCAA May Madness: Rough Obsession Returns

Northwestern coach and Luke Donald instructor Pat Goss posted this image from the NCAA Men's Golf Championship's today:

Well-informed sources say these signs were posted last year as well, which means the NCAA pulls these out of storage to ship to the NCAA's. All to preserve the integrity of the "rough."

Good to know the NCAA brings its point-missing ways to golf, too.

Third Masters Question: Will This Year's Setup Get The Credit It Deserves?

After all, we live in a world where a champion heroically birdieing the last four holes and a host of other players performing brilliantly under pressure might just give some the impression something was faulty with the design or setup.

Well, we know tournament chairman Fred Ridley phoned in this year's setup...just kidding.

As I noted in Golf World Monday (link readable for non-subscribers too), Augusta National put on a show like few others this year thanks to what looked like a combination of a very solid setup by the committee, the addition of so much more grass on the course and slightly softer ground.

No, balls didn't roll down banks into creeks and lakes as much as they used to. And in general, we saw very few situations where you felt like the course was creeping over the edge. Schwartzel shot -14 and sure, there were plenty of red numbers but the weather was essentially ideal for four days. On a course with no rough, four par-5s and smooth greens, that's a number today's players should shoot.

That said, the architecture still is tainted by the recent changes, namely at 11, 15 and 17 where the tree planting does not get any less offensive. Huggan and Elling noted this and other course related topics in their pond scrum:

Huggan: The sight of Jason Day chipping out -- chipping out at Augusta! -- from behind a particularly mindless example of a Hootie tree right of No. 15 made me shudder.

Elling: Absolutely agreed. The whole idea is to be able to go for the green -- at your own peril. Chop-outs are for the U.S. Open.

Huggan: I don't have a problem with ANGC being longer, I might add. Something has to be done if the ball is not to be fixed by the USGA and the R&A. In fact, we have come full circle in that respect: 14 years ago the so-called "Tiger-proofing" began when Woods was hitting short irons to par-5s. Well, that's what we had again this week from the likes of Woodland and Quiros.

So I'm curious what you are seeing and hearing from those who watched the Masters.

Do golfers attribute this year's epic Masters to the great setup and conditioning giving today's players a chance to showcase their talents, or do they see low scores and think something is wrong?

I really do hope we've grown past such a childish assessment of a course's worth based on the scores, but I know better.

"BAY HILL'S BRUTISH BUNKERS"

The SI/golf.com gang was joined by Davis Love and they talk about whether the buried lies at Bay Hill are intentional. Remember, the PGA Tour rules staff has a reduced role in how two tournaments a year are prepared: Bay Hill and the Memorial.

Herre: I was surprised to see so many balls plugging in the bunkers. I suppose that was by design. Anyone know if that was new, softer sand in the bunkers? It was an almost automatic bogey every time someone flew a ball either high or into the upslope.

Bamberger: Or the downslope! Arnold wants his course hard. He feels bunkers have been emasculated. He masculated them.

Love: Soft sand has to be a strategy there, that's the only knock on the course the last few years.

Supers Hoping It Ain't So: Stimp Greens With The iPhone!

PACE Turf's Dr. Larry Stowell posts a video reviewing iStimp, the $0.99 iPhone application that lets golfers do Stimpmeter green readings on their phone.