Work the ball out of trouble
How I hit it high, left and right |  |
It doesn't matter if you're a tour player or a casual golfer: The better you are at making something positive happen when you're in trouble, the better your scores will be.
From the middle of the fairway, the task in front of you is pretty straightforward. But if you're in the rough and you've got a tree between you and the green, you must be able to assess your situation in terms of risk versus reward, and then execute the shot you choose to hit--a high fade or a low hook, for example.
On the next few pages, I'll show you how I diagnose the conditions at hand and pick the shot I'm going to hit. We'll also talk about how to get the ball to do what you want it to do more easily. It's simpler than you think--changing your setup but still making your normal swing can produce different kinds of shots.
Of course, they don't call these recovery shots "risk-reward" for nothing. Take my last two holes at the U.S. Open last summer. On 17, I hit a nice cut shot around a tree into the middle of the green and two-putted for par. On the last hole, I tried another cut shot to avoid a tree and curved that one too much. You won't always pull off the shot, but having a clear plan and the right technique certainly improves your odds.
• Read the lie
• Pick your play
• Adjust your setup
• Swing down steeply
Read the lie
You can't fight physics. If you don't think you can make contact with the back of the ball without grass getting in the way (below), you're not going to be able to curve it much or have much distance control.
Take a short iron, and punch the ball back in play. However, if the ball is sitting up (below), consider a more aggressive play. In the instruction that follows, I'm assuming a decent lie.
Pick your play
Low shot
If you have room to run the ball most of the way to your target, keeping it low to go under or around an obstacle is a safer play than hitting it high. You'll often hit this shot below the lowest branches of a tree. And because a low shot requires a shorter, around-the-body finish (right), it works great when you've got trees blocking you from making a full follow-through. I like to close the clubface and hit a low draw, which gets lots of run.
High shot
Pick the high route over an obstacle only when you're absolutely sure you can clear it. Otherwise, you're probably going to have the same shot all over again after it rattles off the branches. Make an aggressive swing, because the more speed you create, the higher the ball will go (right). This is a good shot to hit when you're short-iron distance from your target. You lose backspin by hitting from rough, but the loft on this shot makes it land softly and settle fast.
Adjust your setup
Swing down steepy
On any shot from the rough, the biggest risk is getting the clubhead caught up in the grass on the way to the ball. If that happens, it not only takes a lot of power off the shot, but the face tends to snap shut and cause you to smother the ball. With the high shot in particular, fat contact prevents the ball from clearing the obstacle.
The best way to overcome a dicey lie is to make a steeper swing--bringing the club down to the back of the ball instead of sweeping it through. To swing steeply, make sure your hands beat the clubhead to impact, maintaining some angle in your wrists until the ball is on its way (below).
