Pitches from the rough

hello bros/sista/pros...

Last week I struggled with distance control when pitching from the rough (30-50m). Particularly when the ball sits on very dense/thick grass, and especially when the grain of the grass is against you.

I tried to hit the ball as hard as I can, and I tried to hit the ball first, yet the ball flew only 3/4 to half the distance I'd intended to hit.

the long grass seem to resist my clubhead and reduce the club speed a lot. I was using 58 wedge and 52 wedge with 10 and 12 deg bounce on those pitches. Impact felt OK, didnt think I was sliding the clubhead under the ball.

note: I could be hitting the grass before the ball as I was duffing on fairways as well that day.

any tips? This type of shots cannot be practiced on the range mat lor

thanks!

Up until recently, this type of shot gave me problems too.

In fact, anytime there was a few blades of grass, esp the cowgrass variety, between the ball and the club face at impact, I could only hit worm killers.

Somehow recently, these type of shots have been flying.

I attribute this improvement to two things:

1. the baby blade has a sharper grind, cutting through grass more efficiently (which is not very helpful for those who don't play w blades, I know, my apologies)

2. I am generating more power, using more of my pivot compared to shoulders and arms previously, and directing the power downward at a more acute attack angle.

A tip given to me by a scratch player, the thicker the rough, the more you got to hit downward sharply. Opposite to that is the fairway, thin lie, where you can sweep the ball off the grass cleanly in a flat arc.

In the case you described above, with plenty of grass, grain against you, ball lying down, I find opening up the club face helps in getting the club to cut through all that grass. Setup as though you are trying to hit a cut fade, never a draw shot when the ball is in thick grass. That also means you need to swing through with more power to compensate for the loss of distance from the open club face. Bear in mind sometimes the grass will grab the hosel and cause the club face to shut through impact; an open clubface will help to reduce this; this is also one of the reasons why Mickelson advocates the hinge and hold.

Here are my SOP for such situation:

1. Take one club more

2. Ball slightly more behind...

3. Cork my wrist and do a steeper 1/2 swing

4. More importantly....recalibrate my expectation that can ON...I happy like bird

Disclaimer: Just when I tot I cant play any worse, I am proven wrong again.

hey thanks fellas...

thot I update this by a tip from bro pinkpanther i received at last SSN. He said this is called a flyer lie.

his method is to hit the ball clean, he tries to avoid divot and sweep the ball off the ground. Hitting down/hard on the ball will cause the grass to catch the club even more. He takes one more club and use 3/4 back swing at most and keep one swing thought: SMOOOTH. He also expect the ball to roll more.

but if the ball is inside the rough...then yes we gotta hit down and hard, ala bunker shot explosion.