In the Rough, Close to the Hole -- What's the Preferred Technique?

Hopefully I'm describing this accurately. You're in the rough, but close to the hole. Maybe you're only 15 feet away from the pin.

How are you approaching this shot? Let's assume varying types of lies here, but still in the rough, so if you could, mention variations you would make based on deep, mid or light rough. What's your club selection? Your ball position?

Lately, I've tended to get better results playing a 56.14 degree sand wedge off my back foot for this type of shot in most types of rough and lies. I'm wondering if that's how a pro would play it, but if not, I'd love to get an idea of what's better.

And just so there are some visuals here, I'm stealing these three photos from @boogielicious 's thread on how to play longer shots from the rough. Check out his thread on that sometime and contribute if you can :

Anyway, back to this thread, here are the three different lies we can work from. Mostly, I'm curious about lie no.2 but feel free to share your approach for all three.

Remember, we're about 15, maybe 20 feet away from the hole for this shot. The green is fairly level. It's not too sloped in either direction.

1.

2.

3.

Lastly, for extra bonus points, how would your approach change -- if at all -- if this was Bermuda rough?

Thanks, guys!

1. i use a SW and mid trajectory shot where I roll my forearms . ball is low and lands close to hole and rolls.

2.if this bent grass , it be the same as 1. might swing a bit harder to get thru grass. still use SW

if soft turf , i might try to flop or lob depending on my confidence on that day. I usually like to chip if I can.

3.Lob , too much grass( i like to go from open to close face usually ), so i will keep open face lob method. i look for a specific landing spot.

the other shot I tend to aim for a circle around the hole.

Hey no fair!!  I was totally going to say this!

Seriously ... for 1, I would be worried that I might chunk a standard pitch, so I'd go with chip/putt method, probably with my 54, maybe with my 50.

For 2 and 3 I'd use Eric and Mice's ( )  standard pitching method with my 59.  I'd keep reminding myself "speed, speed, speed" and with a really short backswing.

I would probably use my 60 and chip/punch it with my hands forward.  At only 15'-20', I like to chip.  It seems I have a bit more feel for distance control than a pitch.

If there was a bunker to carry, I would try to pitch it.

Appreciate the replies, guys. Thanks. Not sure why I was having trouble with these the other day on the practice green. I guess it's just tough to control distance when short sided in general.

This fascinates me, because if I'm interpreting what you are saying correctly, Erik has me doing exactly the opposite.  My feeling is to have a more rigid left leg, and almost "stand up" as I'm coming through.  And it has worked like a charm.  When I "sink down" or "go down and get it" ... that's when I end up chunking it 5 feet.

I guess, different strokes (no pun intended) for different folks.

Looking forward to the video!

I feel like I have a good short game in general, but these close to the hole shots kind of give me fits. I guess because I'm so close I feel like I should get these up and down at a much higher percentage, but at the same time, on TV, pros always lament getting short sided, so maybe I shouldn't.

Sometimes I'll just grab a 3-wood and putt it (lie no.1 and no.2), and that can be really effective for me as well.

For lie no.2, playing it back in my stance (even though I never do that for really any other short game shot) was giving me the most consistent results during my practice. Not sure why. For lie no.3 I would play it like a mini-bunker shot (probably should've said that in the OP, my bad). And if the green is sloping away from me at like 3% or something, I'll play all three lies like a very mini-bunker shot with the face 45 degrees open or so.

But, like I said, looking forward to the video, and again, enjoying the replies. Thanks, fellas.

@mvmac Thanks a lot for that. It's too bad they cut the rough!!!

But I dig the video anyway. I think I mean even closer to the hole than that.

Hey, this weekend, when I get out there, I'll try to make a video to show the situation I'm talking about! And I'll be sure to use more of a pitch technique, than one back in my stance, for sure.

Still, thanks for that great response.

Nice Mike!  What club are you using there?  60??

I filmed myself practicing this shot today, so check it out if you all are interested. Took the advice of playing it like a pitch shot. Just want to make sure I'm doing this right.

I'm using a 56.14 degree sand wedge, square face. Lie no.2 in the OP for both shots. I'm about 14 feet from the hole. Bermuda rough.

In retrospect, from face-on, the ball looks too far back in my stance. And maybe I should've opened the face a bit, I dunno. I guess stance width could be narrower.

@mvmac what do you think about the setup and motion? And it doesn't have to be Mike that responds, anyone can. Thanks, guys

Crap, it's hard to see the lies I had. Should've paid more attention to that. My fault.