"So the great thing is that professional golf might just be on the edge of seeing the end of long rough."

Geoff Ogilvy pens a grooves-related guest column for Scotland on Sunday. After explaining the beauty of the flyer lie that might return with the 2010 elimination of U-grooves, Ogilvy warns:

My big concern is that, once the grooves change, a corresponding alteration must be made to the length of the rough. There will be no point in continuing with foot-long grass. When rough gets that long, it really doesn't matter what grooves we are using. So I'd like to see rough no longer than it presently is at Augusta National. The Masters in 2010 will be interesting in that the rough will actually become much more of a hazard than it has been since it was introduced.

So the great thing is that professional golf might just be on the edge of seeing the end of long rough.

That would be the best case scenario, but I'm not as optimistic. Just look at the PGA this week, where they were coming off one of their most successful events ever with incredibly short rough and turn around with a narrow fairway, high rough setup.

However, you have to think the U-groove announcement provides a face-saving opening for the folks at Augusta National to eliminate the second cut in 2010.

I loved this point, which gets at the silliness of the hoped for elimination of bomb and gouge play.

Anyway, I like the fact that the new grooves will at least make players think more about hitting the fairway. Which isn't that big an issue, actually. I'm trying to hit the ball as straight as I can and I'm sure every other pro is too.

Geoff and others are trying to hit it straight, but sometimes it's just kind of hard to hit a sloping 24-yard fairway, no matter how good you are. That's not bomb-and-gouge, it's lousy setup.