Ed Note: After yesterday’s call for questions for Tim Moraghan, the U.S. Golf Associations agronomist for championships, we received many thoughtful responses from readers on issues ranging from fertilizer choices to green topography. Thankfully the questions included fewer “Caddyshack” references than we feared.

Reuters Sports reporter Larry Fine caught up with Moraghan this morning during the second day of the U.S. Open at Winged Foot Golf Club and asked him some of your questions. The answers follow:

Is there a standard diameter around the cup that must be level, per USGA tournament rules? Or is it simply up to the course’s/clubs greens’ keepers.

Moraghan: No, there’s not a rule, it’s more common sense. You want to have a minimum of three to four feet that we would like it to be relatively flat around the cup. When you have a player make a great roll on a green, made the best stroke he can, you don’t want it tailing off and running far away. We use a digital level to measure percent slope and we use tape measures to make sure we have enough space above any roll off so a player has a fair area to miss a ball. We look at it every day. We’re trying to make it as fair as possible but not easy.

Do greens’ keepers ever manipulate the slope of the grass at cup level - just around the cup? Or is this just a myth - a TV commercial a while back alluded to this?

Moraghan: You can’t do anything with a slope. It’s in the ground. The greens are the greens. We use a penetrometer that measures speed at impact and any number of different tools. We are trying to make it a little bit more scientific. We can only work with what is there. At the first hole, for instance there is a 6,000 to 7,000 square foot surface and because of pitch and slope there are only about four hole locations we can use to put the cup, which is just 4 1/4 inches in diameter.

The severe undulations on the greens were originally built for slower speed puts. Is it fair that they cut the greens so short these days?

Moraghan: I think that’s just a product of modern agronomy. That’s an issue for all golf courses that are 50 years and older. They weren’t designed initially for grass heights to be a tenth of an inch. That’s a whole other chapter in the golf world. My personal view is that our greens speeds are getting out of hand for the enjoyment of the game, for those out there to have fun. But for these players at the U.S. Open, these are the best. They need to be challenged. If you have a par 70 course and you take two putts per green that’s 35 strokes, 50 percent of the game is right there on the putting green. I fear we might be chasing away juniors and seniors from the game by making it too hard to play on the greens. But the pros? That’s a different story.

Tournaments keep making the courses longer. Is this wise? In the case of Winged Foot, an old course, it seems to me the course’s original character has changed and, with these changes, the challenges of the original design, which I’m guessing would still challenge top-flight golfers. Why fix something that’s not broken?

Moraghan: For the Open, the Masters, the U.S. Open and the PGA you’re dealing with the best players, who have the ability to take advantage of equipment, course conditions, physical conditioning etc. Because of that they hit the ball farther and better. I’m not saying that if you gave Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus in their prime the same things they’d be up there too. It’s all just part of the equations. If you want to bring the challenge of the golf course to where the architect originally intended it to be, it’s a necessity.

If you could only be a spectator on one hole in this course, which one would it be and why?

Moraghan: I think I’d be sitting down by sixth green at the 321-yard par-four we have set up for players if they so chose to hit driver to the green. It is downhill and often down wind. We’re going to have some hole locations on left side where there is a run-up to the green. There is a grandstand to the left of the green, I think it would be fun to see who does what, where, when and why. Especially on Sunday when someone might need to make a move.

Like stimpmeters that measure the slickness of the greens, is there any tool that gauges the roll of the green-like fairways for USGA tournament play?

Moraghan: No, we don’t measure fairway speeds. But we do have an equipment standards department that measures tee shots. We have equipment that can figure out bounce and roll distances after the ball lands. But we don’t have standards as to bounce and roll. It’s a game that’s played outdoors. Sometimes it’s wet and sometimes it’s dry.

I bought some land and am putting in a few holesproblem is that I have the hardest clay known to man here in Missouri. With this clay where the heck should I start? Turface? Organic matter? Replace it all?

Moraghan: Contact your local USGA green section representative. the turf advisory service representative of the USGA and start there.