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How to Hit it from the Rough
Most players hate to hit it out from the rough because they can't hit it solid and will lose lots of distance.
When the ball is down in the rough, you will certainly lose some distance. But if you are losing lots of distance, you may be doing something wrong.
The common cause for losing so much distance from the rough is often the angle of approach into the ball.
From the short grass, you want to sweep the ball or hit it with a slight descending blow. But if you do this from the rough, you will lose lots of distance because a lot of grass will come between the clubface and the ball.
To get more distance from the rough, you need to reduce the amount of grass that comes between the ball and the clubface.
So you need to change the angle of approach into the ball. You don't want to sweep the ball from the rough. You want to hit it with a descending blow. If the ball is in deep rough, you might want to use more upright swing to get the ball out.
Here are the simple rules to follow from the rough.
1) Don't use anything more than a 7 iron
2) Swing with a descending blow
3) The deeper the rough, the more loft you need to use
4) Grip little tighter than normal
From the rough, the grass might catch the clubhead and turn it close or open, so you might want to grip it little tighter than normal.
Hitting from Deep Rough
When you have to hit it out of tall grass, you need to use more lofted club to get it out from there.
But if you need more distance, what do you do?
If the rough is really deep, Ernie Els said he won't use anything more than a 7-iron.
To hit your 7-iron from tall grass, you might want to set up to hit a fade.
Aim left of the target and align your body parallel with the aim line. Now open you clubface so that it points to the target.
When you try to hit a fade, the swing plane will become more upright making it easier to get the ball out from the rough.
A Flyer Lie
And if you have faster swing speed, you might want to watch out for a flier.
A flyer is the shot that flies too far because it has less spin on the ball. A flyer occurs when you catch the grass between the clubface and the ball.
It's more common for players with faster swing speed.
To avoid a flyer, you need to minimize the intervention of the grass between the ball and the clubface. To do that, you might want to move the ball little to the right than normal to promote more upright swing.
Hitting a fade is another good option to avoid a flyer.
Change Your Address When Hitting from the Deep Rough
When hitting from the rough, especially from the deep rough, you want to hit down on a steeper angle to get the ball out.
If you try to sweep the ball, lots of grass will come between the clubface and the ball.
So you want to swing on a steeper angle and try to reduce the amount of grass that comes between the ball and the clubface.
To do that, you can try these two adjustments.
First, you want to set your ball back of your stance, maybe a ball-length or two back of your normal ball position.
Second, you might want to put a little more weight on your front foot than usual. (put more weight on your left foot if you are right-handed player)
These adjustments will help you hit down on the ball from steeper angle to get the ball out from deep rough.