It's a fair-way but it's rough

[Slab]

Typically what's your course like during the season for the amount of rough in front of the tees before reaching the fairway?

Not talking about forced carries here just the all grass holes (typed that bit carefully) So simply the distance from the tee before your green-keeper has decided to start/cut the fairway proper

I’ve noticed 100yrds very popular & sensible with 150 yards not uncommon but even out to 170 on occasion & wondered if that’s widespread. Obviously it doesn’t take much to go under/over the ball sufficiently (esp into a strong wind) and suddenly your dead straight tee shot is nestling down or even lost in rough 150 yards from the tee (seems a harsh penalty for non-forum members who obviously drive the ball real world distances)

I’m assuming it’s a cost saving thing under the guise of adding definition/interest to a hole i.e cut it as infrequently as the rough bordering the sides of the fairway and it saves a fair bit of time/money/fuel

It all seems very random. Is there any unwritten correlation with the furthest forward tees and where the fairway starts or some other gauge or is it simply how much petrol's in the mower!

 

[backwoodsman]

I've never paid any special attention to the actual distances - but thinking about the course, I'd say it's variable between about 80 and 130 yards. I'd say it's to give some visual definition to the hole. And given that we have many tiered and terraced tees, the banks/slopes of which wont take the fairway mowers, I think it is visually better to have a big swathe of longer grass rather than a squitty bit, to separate the tees from the fairway. But how big I guess is just choice.