The club famously mows the fairways from the green back to the tee, which is why you see such a stark difference in the shades of green depending on your viewing angle. This photo from J.D. Cuban is one of my favorites to illustrate this with the darker shade on No. 1 (right) and lighter on No. 9 (left).

Fairways cut into the grain are considered to make the course play longer and tougher as a result, but is that true? Suppose every fairway were mowed down grain (or even half and half, as many courses do). Players would get more roll when the ball lands, but the severe slopes on the fairways would threaten to repel shots that weren’t hit with the proper shape.

Such a change might put more of a premium on working the ball against the slopes to negate their influence, especially when the course plays firm like it is this week.