COMMUNITY

Nobody in the world hits every fairway, but the better players of the game know how to escape from trouble spots and get the ball back in play.  Here, I will show you some techniques for getting the ball out of the thick stuff and back onto the golf course!

1.  THE ROUGH

The most common trouble on most golf courses is rough.  It can be more severe on some courses than on others, but it's usually a drag to hit out of.  Now, I'm not talking about first-cut rough, because that has little effect on the golf shot.  I'm talking about the wiry stuff, at least 1-1/2 inches in height or more...enough to bury a golf ball, you know.  The first key when you're in the thick stuff is to assess your lie relative to the shot you want to hit.  There are some situations where you really just can't pull off a long shot into the green, and you need to play out sideways to get the ball into the fairway.  That's fine, just take your lump and move on.  Here are some things to look for:

Sitting Up -- this is actually one of the more dangerous situations, even though it looks like an easy lie.  When the ball is actually suspended above the ground on top of the grass blades (happens a lot with wiry Bermuda rough), you run the risk of sliding the club under the ball, catching it high on the face.  The ball will go nowhere...and the shorter the shot, the more pronounced the effect the fluffy lie will have.  I combat this by 1) playing the ball slightly back (so I catch it on the downswing instead of at the bottom of the swing) and 2) choking up a tad on the club.  This should help you catch the ball on the center of the clubface.  Play for a little less backspin on this shot.

Sitting Down -- You're going to need some strength to advance this ball, especially if you're in rough over 2 inches.  First, you need to understand what grass does to the club.  When you swing through the tall grass, the blades will actually catch the hosel of the club.  This slows the heel of the club down and causes the club to turn over, and the result is a low hook that won't go anywhere near the intended target.  So to help alleviate this, I open the clubface at address a little more than I normally would.  The swing itself is going to require some muscle.  Take a few practice swings in similar length of grass and decide if you really can do it.  Put it this way--there's a reason Tiger is great out of the rough...he's incredibly strong.  So if you can't pull it off, just grab your sand wedge and chop the ball out to the fairway.  That's a lot better than attempting the full swing and leaving the ball in the rough...or worse.

One key I like to remember when swinging from the rough is to make a more upright swing. This helps to minimize the time the club is down in the grass, thus lessening the effect of the grass wrapping around the hosel.  I still make a full shoulder turn, but this is one case where it's good to swing hard with your arms down and through impact (if you come over the top, it's okay).  You need to hold on to your release...don't let your right arm roll over your left...because you will have closed the clubface and the ball will go low left again.  This is why it takes a great deal of speed and strength to get the ball out.  Assess your situation and be smart about whether you can go for the green or not.  Lastly, this ball will have no spin, so plan to land short and run it onto the green.

2.  THE TREES

We've all been in the forest before.  The sad thing is, the forest wants to keep us there, and the trees keep getting in the way of our valiant attempts to escape.  What are we to do?  First, let's find an open lane to shoot through.  I would advise only picking lanes that are 6 feet wide (at the very least) or wider, especially as the shot gets longer.  Start by looking in the general direction of the green.  If a lane presents itself on a line to the green, take your shot.  If not, start looking out towards the fairway.  Pick the best line that will take you as close to the green as possible, and don't try any hero stuff.  Sadly, you might have to go out sideways or even backwards.  But I would much rather be hitting my third shot from the fairway than I would from more trees.

Now, the alignment.  This is obviously the most crucial part.  Now, I use this method for every single shot, but it comes in particularly handy in this situation.  Look down your line, and find an intermediary target--a leaf, a stick, a small patch of dirt, whatever--that is directly on that line.  THAT is your aim point.  Don't think about the trees anymore...think about making the ball pass over that spot.  If it passes over that spot, you should make it right out of the trees.  And for Heaven's sake, don't pick your head up.  Now, since we are in the trees, we probably want to keep the ball low, right?  So I choose a pretty low-lofted club, say, a 4 or 5 iron, play the ball back in my stance, and make a slow half-swing with a low finish.  Why a slow swing?  To limit backspin.  The harder you swing, the more the ball will compress and the more backspin you create.  This makes the ball jump up quickly and you might hit any low-hanging branches that are on your line.  So make a smooth swing and get the heck out of the woods!

3.  UNPLAYABLE LIES

This is a penalty that many golfers forget about, but it is actually a helpful penalty, believe it or not.  Whenever you get into a situation that you feel you just can't escape--maybe you're in the 12-inch hay, or at the base of a tree, or on a bunch of rocks, or whatever--call an unplayable lie penalty.  It's only one stroke.  You have three options:  1) Go back to where you last played and hit your next shot from there; 2) drop on a line backwards from the ball, keeping that unplayable location between yourself and the hole...and you can go back as far as you like; or 3) drop within two club-lengths of the ball's location, but not nearer the hole.  It is the quickest and safest way to get your ball back in play from an impossible lie, and as I said, you only add one stroke.

This is getting long already, so I am going to cut the initial blog off here.  But, if you have run into a sticky situation and need some advice, post it in the comments section and I will do my best to answer.

Good luck getting out of the thick stuff!