A Simple Checklist for Conquering Shots from the Rough

From a clean lie in-the-fairway, making solid/center-face contact time and time again can be anything but routine.

Besides the putting-green, the tee-box and the fairway are the easiest places on a golf course to make solid-contact. On those days when we’re hitting the ball dead-straight, we’re able to play from friendly lies more often than not.

When we don’t have our A-game, that’s when we’re faced with more challenging-lies in (/via) tall grasses and the like.

As I’ve grown accustomed to teaching all kinds of different-players with respect to their age, ability, & gender, the better I’ve gotten at identifying trends amongst them. As far as women’s golf is concerned, the rough happens to be an area on of the golf-course that lends itself to lots of problems.

While almost all golfers struggle to some degree from long/thicker grasses, the best women’s golfers predicate their games on excellence in precision/accuracy whilst avoiding golf’s trouble-areas; like the rough, with added emphasis. As it just so happens, Russell Henley is the straightest-driver of the golf ball on the PGA Tour; and the percentage of fairways that he’s able to find from off-the-tee (71.74) only equates to the 69th best-mark on the LPGA Tour (smack in-between Nelly Korda and Paula Creamer at 68 and 69; respectively).

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Even if you’re immersed in the women’s game and you’re also able to find fairways at a clip of 70 percent or higher; from off-the-tee; which would mean that you’re give-or-take a top-100 player strictly in terms of your driving-accuracy, you’re going to be playing your second-shot on par-4’s-&-5’s from off-the-fairway at a bare-minimum of 4 times per your average 18 hole round or just eighteen-holes.

In order to turn those double-bogeys into mere bogeys and your bogeys into pars, you have to know how to play from the rough. Here are some focus-areas that should be useful (to you) from the thick/long stuff:

The Ground is Not The Enemy:

Unlike playing from the teeing area, the rough requires us to make contact with it and the ground. If you’re not making a divot or contacting the ground immediately following your contact with the ball, then your chances of being successful in-the-rough are very slim.

Don’t be afraid of the ground, but make sure you’re not embracing the ground this idea to such a degree that you’re grounding your club prior to striking the ball. Like every other shot in this game except for green-side bunker shots, we must stress making ball-first contact in-the-rough as best we can.

Swing “Thru” the Ball/Ground:

In this effort to strike ball-then-ground from the rough, you can’t try to “hit-at” the ball.

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Too often, I’ll watch women’s golfers in-the-rough trying to “help the ball” in-the-air by using their arms/hands excessively and in a choppy-like motion/manner. When we over-rely on our arms-&-hands in-general and especially in-the-rough, we tend to “scoop” the ball at-impact while shortening/rushing our entire swing and to the point where our rhythm, tempo, timing, and club-head speed are compromised.

Powerless Effort vs. “Effortless Power”:

Setup to your ball in-the-rough in a way that allows you to make a full/controlled/aggressive swing without having to try overly hard.

Frequently, I’ll watch women-golfers setup to their ball with their hands held-low and with poor posture (rounded-back/spine-angle & deep knee-flex). From what I’ve gathered on this specific-topic, having inadequate-posture helps these players to feel like they’re “getting-down” to the ball more that’s sitting in deep/long/thick-rough.

When you don’t stand tall; or tall enough, you’re setting yourself up for a powerless effort; which is precisely what we don’t want in-the-rough. From bad lies, we must create an ample amount of speed during the swing; so that when we do we’re also able to-contact the ball in such a way that it travels far & on-line with our intended-target. For that to happen, we can’t slouch over the golf ball and nor can we employ a narrow base with our stance/feet.

Hit DOWN On The Ball:

Playing your best-golf often requires deploying/displaying your sound-understanding of golf’s basic principles; particularly the one that says that golf is a game of opposites. As this specifically applies to the rough, getting the ball to travel UP means that we must hit DOWN and/or make-contact with the ball using a descending blow.

Before you go there (where I know you’re about to go), let me explain. With the driver, it’s true that we want to sweep the ball off-the-tee; which also means that we’re hitting UP on it. In the rough, however, we have to overcome the tangible obstacles that are positioned on the ground; and between our club-face and the back of the golf ball.

In other words, thick-grass along with other loose impediments (such as leaves, sticks, tiny pebbles/stones, etc.) are often situated on-the-ground between our ball and our club-face. Due to this, we must do our best to deliver the club-head into the back of the ball in a fashion which limits the club-face/head’s exposure to these grasses. By delivering our iron’s club-face/head from high-to-low into the back of the ball, we are maximizing our chances of making solid/ball-first contact while avoiding mother-nature (via grass/other impediments); which, in turn, sends the ball far off into the distance as well as on-line.

The next time your tee-shot lands in-the-rough and your lie is (also) anything but predictable/good, start your pre-shot routine off the right way by taking your practice-swings in a patch of rough that mimics/closely-resembles the patch of rough that you’re about to play from. Make sure you’re swinging your club in such a way that the sole of your iron/hybrid thumps/contacts the ground. If you’re making-divots/moving-earth in the process of making these practice swings, don’t fret about it; you’re merely doing what you’re supposed to be doing! Also, remind yourself that grass grows back and that golf-courses employ greens-keepers for a reason.

After you’ve made at least 2-3 half/full practice-swings and in the above fashion, feel free to setup to your actual ball. Make sure that your setup has you in an athletic-position where you’re standing-tall, with a wide-enough stance, and with proper-ball position. To review, here are the steps to-follow (in-short)

Rough Checklist:

1. Practice-Swings: Make sure you’re Thumping-the-Ground
2. Ball-Position: Make sure the ball is positioned squarely in-the-middle of your stance/feet (not too close to your lead and/or your trail foot).
3. Stand TALL with your feet at-least shoulder-width apart
4. Make a controlled, yet aggressive swing and try to strike ball-then-ground; not the other way around!

If you’re struggling out of the rough, I can assure you that deciding to-make an aggressive, balanced swing where your iron’s club-head thumps the ground after the ball is only going to help you establish more consistency from these tough lies.

On those rare occasions when you have the course to yourself, don’t hesitate to-drop an extra ball or two in-the-rough to-practice. In this game, the driving range has only so many answers.

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