Hitting From The Rough

Once you're off the tee, you can be confronted with generally two types of rough — an average rough just off the fairway, and then the dreaded heavy rough, which is considerably deeper. Let's hope you practice my tips regularly and use my recommended swing training aids, so you'll be hitting your second shots from the center of the fairway. This first photo represents and average lie in the rough off the fairway, where only a portion of the ball is showing on the top. Providing there is a clear line of site to your target, you exercise and use my golf swing tip as prescribed, this shot is quite do-able with some focused and pre-determined changes in the set-up. That begins with proper club selection. You need one club more for the same distance, and the reason is because the ball won't go as far. It won't go as far, because you're making contact with the ball with more grass than usual between the ball and the club face. If your distance and lie calls for an iron play, then do so, but if you're a ways out, use a hybrid, which is best for this type lie and distance. Assuming my distance is reachable with an iron, I will choose an iron for this particular golf swing instruction demonstration. If it called for a hybrid, I would move my ball position forward, about one to two ball widths closer to the target, for better impact when using the bigger head. Line the ball up across from your sternum and stand slightly taller at address. Taller produces a more upright swing, which we need here. Use one more club than normal and open the face slightly, to prevent the heel, hosel and leading edge of the club from grabbing too much grass. Do not open the club face too far, or you'll slice the ball to the right. Choke down on your grip for better control, because your feet will sink deeper into the grass, like in sand. Lean your body weight more onto your left foot, because you want to catch the ball as clean as possible. I try to figure about 75%, if I'm up close to the hole using an iron, and at least 60% when I'm farther away using a hybrid. If the ball sits up slightly, be observant to this type lie, because you might catch less grass, creating a flyer which comes out hot and runs over the green. This happens because the rough creates less back spin on the ball, allowing the ball to travel further when it hits and releases onto the green.

As you can see from the ball in the foreground of this picture, it is a dreaded combination of lie, stance and playability. I'll be standing in about two feet of the oh so common Kakuya grass. It comes in a variety of lengths and thicknesses, which can affect you're stance, balance, timing, proper golf swing, mental attitude, distance, trajectory and score. Needless to say, some good golf swing instruction is a must, but still no substitute for consistent and repetitious practice. You will entertain this shot more than you'll like; however, over and over again, you'll hear me say a good foundation for your blue print and pre-shot routine is what makes this type of shot more manageable, rather than swearing, grabbing the masher club and ripping at it with an emotional vengeance. There is actually a simple golf swing to get you out of the hazard and back into play with minimal or no loss in managed approach to the green. It's not always how we get to the cup under the flag, rather how many strokes it took to get there. So if you had to use a 6 iron to get on rather than the pitching wedge, the end result would be the same… you're still putting. It comes down to how you analyze the lie, pick the appropriate shot, visualize it and execute with the proper golf swing — and that's what the blue print to proper course management produces. It is the only way to play this game. Every player must have a road map to success, just as the golf course designs a card to get you to the next hole. This picture illustrates some of the trails you may take along the way, but the golf swing instruction I offer is one of the maps to the shortest routes to the putting surface. Another addition to your golf bag I recommend would be to pick up the Quick Series Golf Guide Book, to help remind you to use your blue print and pre-shot routine that I also recommend.

A proper golf swing is a must out of this jungle. The first instinct would be to pick it up and play from a perfect lie in the fairway. Not without incurring a penalty stroke you won't, so might as well learn to burn from the rough, as we say. Besides, that doesn't teach you to be a better golfer by not following the rules of play. So you need to have a good golf swing technique in order to have the confidence to execute this shot. You need to evaluate your options carefully in this type of grass. Let's take a visual on what you're looking at here. This is a close-up from the above picture embedded down deep into a couple types of various grasses. The large pieces of rope surrounding the ball and eventually your club head and shaft is Kakuya, with a mix of perennial rye and a share of crab grass. This is tough mustard to spread my friend, and any attempt to go a fair distance to the green is usually left to rethink the next shot from the same lie. Reason being, the Kakuya will grab the shaft and hosel of the head and turn it over, closing the club head. This just smothers the ball and sends it down into the rough, rather than up the club face and out onto the fairway. If you can see around and behind the ball, it has several areas to go hibernate into as well, which is what we don't want to happen. The soil under the ball may be sandy, also grabbing too much sand and Kakuya, virtually stopping the head in its tracks. It gets worst if it's muddy by adding the wet combination as well. All of what I'm saying here is a recipe for deceleration at impact and that is the main ingredient to focus all your energy, once you've chosen the proper set-up, prior to hitting this delegate shot. It's not unusual to ask the course pro, prior to tee time, some of the hazards at that particular course and his opinion on playing conditions, to give you a heads up on the best approach of play. This information is invaluable to your game plan for the day. I might suggest you make a purchase of a yardage book for that particular course, as well to assist in range finding. They can get expensive, when you play several courses throughout your area, so I found the Bushnell Pinseeker 1500 with Slope,to be a diamond when it comes to multiple playing conditions.

Once again, you've found your ball in this amount of deep rough and you need to get out, and do it in one stroke. This nasty stuff can also have you taking a lost ball penalty. Most golfers experience this ugly lie at one time or another, and hate to play this shot out; however, learning and using this golf swing tip will develop some consistency in your game, and that's what produces lower scores. Let's take a look at the "what do I do now" syndrome and go after this shot with some confidence. It can be done after you evaluate all your options, so you won't break a club over a bad choice. If you find yourself in this much deep rough, half-way to the green, it's not likely you're going to make it with less than two shots, so that's your decision… two shots. Take your best attempt for a good lie on your next shot. Use a high lofted wedge; I love the new Callaway X Forged Mack Daddy C-Grind Vintage Wedge – RH Steel,but no more than a nine iron. This wedge is designed with input from tour players; they are constructed from soft 1020 carbon steel for incredible feel. The clubs also feature a tighter heel-toe radius that provides increased versatility from anywhere around the green. Performs fantastic out of the rough. It is also very forgiving around the green, when that soft feel is required. So to continue, I want you to keep your feet fairly close together and most of your weight on your left foot. Use a half to three quarter upright swing to pitch this ball towards a good lie on the fairway. Open the face a little to avoid digging in behind the ball, which will slow down your acceleration. Don't get greedy and end up with a worst situation on the next shot. Here I'm demonstrating a shot much closer to the green, out of the rough, in this photo. Play this ball off the center of your stance. Choke down on the grip and keep your feet close together slightly open at address. If your ball is too far forward of center, you will be cutting through too much grass by the time you get to the ball, and that results in the club head getting turned over too quickly and the ball usually stays buried in the rough. For review of this golf swing instruction, place most of your weight onto your left foot. It appears that I'm tilting to my left side when I do this. You need to make a steep angle of attack to the back of the ball, accelerating through the shot as your hands lead the club. Think of a check mark type of swing, by your hands cocking up towards the right shoulder and back down on the back of the ball, still moving forward with the shot. You're not blasting this shot, but rather making a smooth, solid and continuous motion through contact.

The golf swing tip here is to choke down on the grip to where your hands are close to the steel. From this view, you can see that I have choked down some 3-inches. I want to maintain more control of the club head through impact from twisting off line. This is the technique used for a shorter length club by choking down on the grip. It should be obvious to you that most of my weight is on my left side, which shows me standing over the arch of my left foot for balance and control. This weight transfer for balance maintains throughout the entire swing process. You should stand slightly open, which is left of the target. The reason for that is because you are using mostly all upper torsos, arms and shoulders to swing. As I take the club up to a nine o'clock position, my right knee makes a lateral left maneuver towards my left knee, insuring that I don't come off the left foot and out of balance. I am looking straight down at the front of my ball, so as not dig into the grass behind the ball. My club will of course meet the back of the ball at impact with a slightly open face. If you allow the forearms to roll over each other, the club head will hood over the ball, trapping the ball and sending it downward. You must maintain a conscious effort to swing the shaft down and through, creating a pushing affect of the right palm through the shot. This position keeps the face slightly open at contact and allowing the ball to climb or simply pop-up in the air, off the club face while moving forward. To assist in this pendulum free swing, you notice I do not rotate my shoulders off the intended line of flight. I want you to envision my shoulders tilting like the sea saw we rode as kids. It keeps the up and down of the swing on a continuous upright circle without changing the swing arc. If I were to rotate back with the right shoulder, I would then have a tendency to close the club face, contacting the ball using a flatter swing plane. That's what we call double trouble and extra stokes. By using a bail out approach down the fairway, this will be the best choice scenario, when confronted with a sizable distance left to the green. This two shot approach is the best choice based on this lie… I have taken away a lot of the risk of a bad experience in this jungle and set myself up for a clean second shot, thereby minimizing trauma to my score card.

After taking the club up to a nine o'clock position, I have already completed the right knee lateral shift to the left knee for stability, balance and control. I make that move while I'm back swinging the club, during the upward motion. This is all a timing issue you'll get use to as you practice. When you reach the end of your back swing, you should already feel that weight completed to the left foot. When I return to the ball, my left hip has already cleared to the left, providing that needed room for the hands to power through the shot. Remember, I was already set-up with my hips, slightly left of my target at address. The back of my left hand or glove hand is pointing directly at my intended target, followed by the right hand's palm pushing the shaft straight through the shot. This position will assist the club head to remain opened as it was intended at address. The picture shows this clearly. My left shoulder is tilting upward as is required to avoid any rotation, which would only close the club face, thereby changing the trajectory of the ball flight. My torso, arms, hands, chest, shoulders and forehead are all clearly parallel to my intended line of ball flight. My lower body is all aligned left of that same target line. At impact, you can see a strong left side, with a straight line being drawn down from my left shoulder, down my arm, down the shaft to the club head. They also match a straight line drawn down my leg to the ball. This is an ideal position for proper contact and a successful shot out of any deep rough. There is another piece of the puzzle most people would over look in this situation, and that being a solid fitting pair of golf shoes. Tennis shoes are great for hanging around and walking, but flex too much in this type of tundra. I recommend a solid golf shoe for an all purpose playing conditions. My favorite choice is the Adidas Powerbandor any solid shoe with that wider addition to the sole for stability. It also helps to keep you from swaying in the backswing. A good choice is Adidas Tour 360 II Golf Shoe – Style #737336.Reviews on this shoe are superb and fantastic in the rough.

This is a shot you need to practice, in order to feel the movement of the club head through this much rough and drag, which will build confidence when called upon to attempt this much rough. This set-up and swing is not very complicated and it does work. Hitting balls out of 10 to 12 inches of Kakuya or any other kind of rough using this tip, will build confidence, and that helps to lose the fear of being in deep rough from then on. If you allow your mental game to be in control, you will be fearless of this shot. As you make a steep descending blow to the back of the ball, similar to that of a check mark angle, you must remember to place your weight on the left side prior to impact. You can observe from this picture, I'm also using my right knee to help force that extra weight transfer to my left foot. If the weight is not shifted to the left foot prior to impact, you will more than likely leave the ball in the rough, because you failed to accelerate through the ball and make clean contact with the ball first. My head is well behind the ball at impact to maintain balance, control and allow extension of my arms through the hitting zone. My grip is choked down to the end of the golf grip for additional control and acceleration. My right hand demonstrates in this photo, that you should not allow the right forearm to roll over the left forearm, which would trap the ball with a closed club face, and that is what leaves the ball in the rough. You'll notice the back of my glove hand is driving towards my target as well, improving my chances of a successful shot. As you can see, my ball has lifted up and out of some of the nastiest, deepest kakuya grass to play from, even if cut short, so I'm pleased with this result. You know this is deep rough, when you can't see the white golf shoes I'm wearing.