3 Important Tips for Playing Shots from the Rough

Playing from the rough is an inevitable part of golf. Despite your best efforts to keep your ball in the short grass, you are going to stray from the fairway from time to time.

Fortunately, with a good plan and some practice, you can hit quality shots from the rough and keep your round on track.

In this article, we’d like to highlight three tips to help you get better results from the longer grass. Make no mistake – you’d always prefer to be in the fairway; but seeing your ball duck into the rough doesn’t mean you’re destined to record a bogey or worse.

Why is Playing from the Rough So Difficult?

Before we get into our three tips, we want to quickly explain what is different when hitting your ball out of the rough.

Why is it harder to hit good shots from the rough than the fairway? Some of the complicating factors include the following:

#1 Reduced Spin

This is the big one. When you hit a shot from the rough, you aren’t going to impart as much spin on the ball, because there will be grass trapped between the clubface and the ball at impact.

This will actually help you hit straighter shots, which is nice, but it will also limit how much stopping power you can create.

Shots from the rough tend to bounce and roll after they land, and it’s hard to accurately predict your distances in this situation.

#2 Limited Club Selection

In particularly long rough, you simply won’t be able to use some of your clubs effectively. For example, if the rough is long and you find yourself with 200 yards to the green, you might be forced to lay up because none of your long clubs will be able to get the ball out of that grass successfully.

#3 Ball not on the Ground

One of the sneaky challenges that comes with playing from the rough is the fact that the ball might not be sitting all the way down on the ground. If the grass is lush and full, the ball will be suspended off the ground slightly, making it hard to achieve solid contact.

You don’t want to play your rounds in fear of the rough, but you do need to respect it and understand how it can impact your play. Now, let’s dive into three tips that can help you optimize your results in this part of the game.

Tip #1 – Manage Your Expectations

Perhaps the most important thing you can do when playing from the rough is to be realistic about your prospects for the shot.

If you are trying to hit a perfect shot as though you were playing from the fairway, you’ll likely be disappointed with the outcome. So, instead, accept your circumstances and make a realistic plan for what you are going to try to do with the ball.

The way you plan your shots from the rough is going to depend on the specific circumstances you are facing. For instance, if the ground is hard and the rough is long, you’ll have a very difficult time controlling the shot at all. So, the best plan is likely to play the ball up the fairway, letting it roll to the target.

You probably won’t be able to carry the ball onto the green, and you might not be able to play to the green at all.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to planning shots from the rough, so take each situation as it comes and make a wise choice. 

Tip #2 – Get Steep

To make the best possible contact with the ball when playing from the rough, you need to swing down a little steeper than normal. A relatively steep path is important because it allows the clubhead to miss some of the grass that is waiting behind the ball.

If you swing in too shallow, the club will get caught up in the grass, costing you speed and likely twisting the face.

There are a few adjustments you can make to help produce a downward swing through the ball:

1. Stand taller. You need a little extra room if you want to hit down aggressively, so try placing your feet a little closer together and taking a bit of the flex out of your knees.
2. Move the ball back in your stance. Contacting the ball slightly further back in your stance is another way to ensure you catch it on the downward arc.
3. Choke down on the club. By making the club effectively shorter for this swing, you will have an easier time avoiding the long grass behind the ball.

If you have typically struggled to make decent contact in the rough, hitting down a little more aggressively could be the answer.

Tip #3 – Don’t Swing Too Hard

It’s tempting to swing extra hard when your ball is in the rough. As you look down from address, it certainly looks like it’s going to take a lot of effort to gouge the ball out and send it off toward the green. But swinging too much harder than normal is likely going to do more harm than good.

The key on this shot – as is the case with most shots in golf – is to make clean contact.

If you swing really hard, you’ll struggle to keep your balance and you are more likely to make poor contact in the end. It’s okay to give it a little extra when the grass is particularly thick, but don’t overdo it. Always stay within yourself and make sure to focus on making good contact first and foremost.

You never want to be in the rough, but it’s important to know how to get your ball back into position when you do stray from the fairway. We hope these tips help you manage your shots from the long grass – and we hope you don’t have to use this advice too often!