Shooting From The Rough
from Good Golf Swing Aids

Making Easy Work Of The Rough Stuff

Anyone that has spent some time on the golf course knows what it is like to botch a drive. Finding your way in the rough is something that can be quite common actually when you first start out.

Depending on the severity of the mistake at the tee box, will determine how far in the rough you will land. This could mean that you are just off the short grass by a hair or you could be somewhere in the third cut and in some degree of trouble.

Choosing The Correct Club

If you have had the misfortune of messing up your tee shot, you are going to have some work ahead of you to get to the green. The problem with this is that you are not really sure what club you should use to dig yourself out. You will have a few clubs at your disposal. Yet, you are going to want a favorable lie when you are out of the thick.

If you are in deep as in the ball is at least half way buried, then a lower iron such as a 3 iron is simply not going to cut it. Unless you have experience with punching the ball out of unfavorable lies, you would be best to avoid this technique for now. Finding your way back to the fairway would be the best option and anything above a 7 iron would be your best bet.

Going For It

If you find that you are in the first or second cut of the rough along the edge of the fairway, you might opt to simply go for the green depending on how far you are from it. If you are within 100 yards and you are below the cup, then your best bet would be to up a club to compensate for the loss in distance and power to the ball. This loss in power will result in the club not making full contact as a result of the rough cut grass impeding the shot.

If you are above the cut however, this does not necessarily mean that you need to go down in clubs. With the amount of power loss and hampered ball contact, you still may need a little more to reach the green. It is best not to sell your shot short if you are making a pitch for the green out of the rough.

Playing With Fire

If you are within pitching range of the green and in the rough, you will want to first observe any and all possible hazards along the way. If there is water around the green and you are pitching out of the rough, any under compensation or over compensation could lead you to play with fire.

Pay close attention to the details of the shot prior to committing as once launched there is no turning back. What would otherwise been a simple error on the tee, could actually end up costing you a stroke or more bringing you dangerously close to bogey or double bogey territory.

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