After I shared my answer to the question about PGA TOUR conditioning guidelines, I received some feedback by email and take this opportunity to share more information on this topic.

First, Jim Prusa wrote:

The Tour course preparation guidelines are updated every few years. And those of the LPGA, Asian Tour are just about verbatum to the Tour's. The PGA Tour was the first to wisely establish guidelines after Dean Beman hired Allan MacCurrach as the first championship agronomist. Prior to, it was a weekly, conditioning crapshoot on the Tour subject to egos of clubs and supers. Here’s a whole piece on the subject FYI: http://www.prusaassociates.com/ArticlesPDF/AGB_Jan2012.pdf

The guy on your blog was asking for “a rule of PGA tour course setting,” but there are no rules and only the guidelines as you properly provided to him. They are subject to a degree of application by experienced agronomists — and the the agronomists of the professional tours are the most experienced experts in the world ... I get worried when average golf course greenskeeper / supts consider duplicating PGA Tour conditions as hard and fast ‘rules.’ A little bit of information can be dangerously injurious in the wrong hands. Hope you can point this out to this fellow so he can caution others too as they also glean good info from the Tour’s guidelines.

Then, Cal Roth sent some more details:

They are exactly that, "Guidelines". Micah, each week on all six Tours now, we work with the advance team of Agronomist and Rules Official to pre determine set up for that specific course, based on the tournament expectations, course conditions, grass types, weather pattern, staffing level and talent, equipment availability, etc. Although our general efforts are focused on firm, dry playing conditions, this is relative to many factors. As example, we typically play tournaments with green speeds ranging from 10.5' to 13.5' depending on a lot of different factors. We have actually played on 8.5' when the wind is howling.