Monday, July 8, 2013

More solid shots out of the deep stuff



As anyone who's played golf knows, it's inevitable that at some point during a round you're going to find yourself in the rough. And while the rough certainly presents challenges that don't exist when playing from the fairway; playing from the rough doesn't have to ruin your round. Below are a few points regarding playing from the rough that will help you keep your round on track.

The first key to playing effectively from the rough is accurately assessing the lie of your ball: how deep or buried is your ball? The club you hit and what type of shot you play are dictated by this because the rough creates resistance as the club enters the grass, causing the club to slow down or decelerate before impact. The heavier the rough, the more rapidly the club slows down. Obviously, the club head slowing down results in a loss of distance. So, judging how much grass is going to interfere with the club head before impact is critical. 

If your ball is sitting where some portion of the ball is above the tallest blades of grass (Image 1 above), the loss of club head speed will be minimal and therefore so will be the loss of distance. In this circumstance, take one more club than you'd normally hit from that yardage and let er' rip. High lofted fairway woods and hybrids can be especially effective in this circumstance.

For a lie where the top of the ball is even with the top of the grass (Image 2 above), you're also going to take an extra club than you normally would for the given distance, but now you also need to alter your technique slightly. In this situation you want to make your swing plane steeper or more upright so you approach the ball with a more vertical angle.