How To Pitch Out Of The Rough

In this article, I’m going to address the difference between playing off the fairway and playing out of the thick rough.

We are not always fortunate with a great lie in which you see the golf ball lying perfectly on the fairway, and the ball might sometimes finish in some pretty thick rough when playing a round of golf. When the golf ball is surrounded by a lot of rough, the golf club will slow down and loft through impact, therefore you’ll have to play it differently to ensure that the ball comes out with some height and stops in a predictable length of time. I’ll explain how to play out of the rough in this article.

If you were to use the standard technique of a pit shot, your golf club would come through and hit too much of the rough, which would cause the club to slow down and the grass to wrap around the heel of the golf club, closing the clubface and causing the ball to shoot out to left. So, the way you need to play this one is quite different from the way you’re playing it now.

Here is the drill:

1. Stand a bit wider to increase stability and to create more speed than normal (to overcome the drag of rough).
2. Increase the angle at which the golf club comes down to the ball by leaning forward and increasing your wrist hinge, effectively reducing the amount of grass you strike on the approach to making contact.
3. Lean to the left to extend the wrist hinge even further, improving the predictability of the golf ball’s trajectory.
4. Leave the clubface slightly open at the address position so that the club does not stop right away on impact.

Now, you should be able to play these shots far better than you already are if you use this strategy.

Watch the full video here: