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Heavy Rough Made Easy

If you have ever tried hitting a golf shot from deep rough you know that it is not easy to do well.  Even the best players in the world struggle to hit great shots from deep rough.  Take any U.S. Open competition for example.  When the rough is extremely long it often forces the pros to hit a wedge simply to get the ball back on the fairway and into play.  The player’s scores in competitions conducted in which long rough course conditions exist dramatically reflect the difficulty of these types of shots.

Most of us have experienced first hand how high rough can lead to an increase on our own score.  Understanding the rough is the first step to overcoming this obstacle.

When a golf ball is buried or sitting down in deep rough, the grass catches the clubhead as it is on its way to striking the ball often forcing the club face to close and slow down.

In order to have success when hitting shots from heavy rough it is critical to keep the club head moving through the impact area – the part of the swing from just before the ball to just past the ball.  Don’t let the club slow down or stop.  Move the club down to the ball on a steeper angle of attack in order to minimize the slowing effect the high grass has on the clubhead. 
  
Use a more lofted club to assist you during the shot in order to assure getting the ball in the air and out of the deep grass.  The use of a higher lofted club minimizes the natural closing effect the high grass tends to have on the clubface. Set up with your stance a bit to the right of your target (right handed players) and place your grip on the club so the clubface is a slight bit more open at address.  Hold on a bit tighter to the grip of the club as you swing the club through the deep rough to keep the clubhead from closing down significantly. 

Next time you play a course with deep rough think about your shots a bit more before you automatically reach for the 3 wood on your long second shot to the par 5 out of high grass. Choose a club with a high amount of loft that will give you the confidence you need to get the club to the ball and in the air without it shutting down or getting caught up in the high grass.  If it means sacrificing some distance and taking your sand wedge in order to hit it back in to the fairway, then by all means do it. The next shot will be much easier to hit from the fairway than it will be to hit another shot from out of the rough. There are not many more frustrating things in the game of golf than attempting to hit a long shot out of the deep rough unsuccessfully, only to find yourself faced with a similar next shot a few feet in front of where your last shot was just attempted.

Finally, when the grass is high avoid the rough as much as possible.  A shorter more accurate tee shot into the fairway will give you better results than a longer tee shot that is sitting down and buried in the deep grass of the rough. Choose a club from the tee – a fairway wood, hybrid, or long iron that will yield the most accurate control of your shot direction and enable you to hit the fairway more often.        

Kurt Zolbe
PGA Head Golf Professional
Deerfield Golf and Tennis Club

Archived Golf Tips:

11/08 – Heavy Rough Made Easy
09/08 – Ball Position
08/08 – Ladder Drill
07/08 – Easy Does It
06/08 – Distance Control When Putting
05/08 – If The Shoe Fits
02/08 – Sand Dollars
01/08 – Getting More Power Out Of Your Swing
12/07 – Winter Club Maintenance
11/07 – Hillside Lies
08/07 – Lift
07/07 – Hybrids
05/07 – Practice
04/07 – Golf Club Fitting
03/07 – The Iron Triangle