PALM SPRINGS – For 28 years, David Johnson has kept a watchful eye over Mission Hills Country Club. The course superintendent has seen a lot of change in course set up for the ANA Inspiration and laughs in amazement at how the trends in set-up have shifted towards faster, thicker and tougher.

“I always remember saying, the LPGA saying, whoa, now if they’re not 12 everyone thinks they’re slow. It’s funny how 10 used to be really, really fast now 10 is now really slow,” Johnson said about the change in green speeds. “When we roll them they’re a little over 11.2, 11.3. Just monitoring that and deciding when we’re going to bring them down try to get them around 12.”

12 on the stimpmeter is where the greens will be likely rolling at the start of the Tournament. The Bermuda rough has thickened up too and players have taken notice. Johnson says the two and a half inches in rough has gone by the wayside, with wayward shots getting caught up in three inches of rough during practice rounds this week, which Johnson said could grow to four or even five inches by the weekend.

“These girls are good. It doesn’t matter when they’re down the middle,” Johnson said.

But even players who are able to keep it in the short grass won’t be able to avoid the wind.

Extreme winds have been the story since players began arriving this week and if it keeps up through the weekend, will play a major factor in determining this week’s champion.

“If it gets windy it’ll play into their face on a lot of holes and it can really change the scoring, if we get wind you can have 25-30 miles an hour wind and that makes it a very difficult course,” said Johnson. “We get a lot of wind out here, so we’ve been dealing with having to clean the course with debris and leaves and things like that sets us back a little bit.”

This week, flights were delayed and planes capable of making the harrowing decent into Palm Springs International Airport were bounced around like toys as gusts of 60 miles per hour whipped through the area. Monday through Wednesday the wind tended to calm during the day, only to pick up in the afternoon hours, a trend that could affect players on the later end of the draw during the Championship.

Rough and Wind To Challenge Players In The Desert

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