PerformaxGolf

The key to playing great golf is to eliminate half of the golf course and to play the course like a game of chess.

Golf is about angles and leaving yourself with a good angle into the green. If you play a course that is fairly wide open without much rough you might intentionally try to hit your ball in the rough to give you a better angle into the green.

At my home course, hole 10 is an example of this. The hole is a par 4 playing 480 yards. There is a bunker down the left side that is reachable from the tee and a bunker down the right side also, but not reachable. There are very little trees to the right of the fairway and the green has a large deep bunker that is angled 45 degrees from the middle of the green to the back left of the green. Every time the pin is cut to the left side of the green behind the bunker I am purposely trying to hit the ball into the right rough.

The reason for this is first eliminate trouble. By aiming down the right side I can eliminate the bunker down the left side. Secondly, since this is a long hole I will have a long iron into the green on my approach shot. If I am in the right rough the left pins on the green are open and I do not have to carry the greenside bunker on my approach shot. This gives me more room for error if I miss my long iron into the green. I can mishit my 3- or 4-iron and still hit the green. Many times a mishit with the long irons may not carry as far, but will still release when they hit the green and my mishit may end up close to the hole.

When Should You Shoot for the Rough?

Trying to intentionally miss the fairway is not for every hole, however some of you may wish it were. First, the rough must be very short. During this time of the year when the rough is not long it’s ok to miss fairways intentionally. Second, missing the fairway should serve a purpose. Are you avoiding a bunker that could potentially leave a tough second shot in? Are you opening up the green so that you have a better angle into the pin cut in the corner of a green?

These reasons are good and will have you playing better golf. Remember that hitting a fairway is a stat, but sometimes missing the fairway can result in lower scores, which is ultimately the goal.

I get a lot of students asking me how to hit the pitch shot out of rough and too often they make this shot way more difficult than it is.  The basic understanding of pitching the ball from the rough is to play this shot similar to a bunker shot.  There are several rules to follow when pitching the ball from the rough, just as there are rules to follow for great bunker shots.

The first key to hitting great pitch shots from rough are understanding what type of shot you’re trying to hit.  Is the pin cut close to the edge of the green requiring you to use height to stop the ball or do you have plenty of green to work with?  Lets first discuss the shot with plenty of green.  To hit this shot you must understand that the key to playing from the rough is acceleration.  Too often players take a big swing and then decelerate on the downswing which results in either a chunk shot or a shot that the rough grabs the hosel and closes the club, causing the ball to shoot long and left of the flag.  To play this shot we need to set up with the ball in the back of our stance.  Our stance width will be relatively narrow, (depending on the length of the shot), and will require us to hinge the club very quickly on the backswing.  This allows us to get maximum downward angle on the ball to reduce as much friction of the grass between the clubface and the ball. We will however hit slightly behind the ball to allow the club to get down to the ball and explode the ball out of the thick rough similar to a bunker shot.  We must hold the club firmly with our fingers in order to keep the club from closing, but always remember to accelerate through the ball and do not allow your wrists to flip over.  We want to accelerate and hold the face square.  Remember the phrase hinge and hold with acceleration.  Due to the long grass and the ball back in our stance this ball will come out easily and will land about halfway and run the rest of the way.

The pin cut closely to the edge of the green will require a bit more of bunker rules.  In order to pull this shot off we need height to stop the ball.  The long grass will take backspin off of the ball and therefore we must adjust our setup to get the ball up.  First set up with a much wider stance and move farther from the ball.  Next, lower the handle of the club.  This will provide a feeling that our hands will be down and close to our knees.  Now simply play this shot like a bunker shot with the clubface open at address and out goal is to hit slightly behind the ball.  We want nice rhythm and a ¾ backswing.  Our club will enter the grass an inch or so behind the ball and we will control the distance by our follow through.  A short firm follow through will produce a high soft shot while a longer follow through will produce a higher, softer, and longer shot.  We are still hinging and holding with acceleration, but our setup is different.  This will allow you to hit two different types of shots depending on the situation.

Remember that people struggle from these lies because they are unsure of how the ball will come out.  You must force the ball to come out either low or high and this is affected mainly by our setup. Try these two different shots and you will be prepared the next time you have this shot on the course.