30 Feet and In from the Rough

[NJpatbee]

Not US Open rough, but thick enough for the ball to be lying down below the grass level, gives me fits from just off the green to about 30 feet out.  It is not rare for me to come up short and take 2 shots to reach the green, resulting in a double bogey.  I use my pitching wedge and try to hit down on the ball with a short stiff swing to pop it out, but it is obvious that I have no idea how far the ball will travel.   Any suggestions?

[The Recreational Golfer]

Assess the lie, that is the key to these shots. Also, dump the short, stiff swing.

If the ball is part way down, with grass underneath it, use a sand wedge and play the ball back in your stance. Open the clubface slightly. Hit slightly downward so the grass doesn't interfere with the clubhead too much, and so the club gets underneath the ball but not so much underneath that you fluff it three feet. Swing with gentle authority, and follow through. Practice to learn how to do this so it works and how much the ball runs out after landing.

If the ball is all the way down on the ground, then take a lob wedge and play the ball even with your right foot.  You must swing down somewhat steeply to get the club onto the ball without having to go through too much grass. Your goal is to thump the ground with the sole of the club just underneath the ball. Swing down, don't jab. This takes practice. Since the club gets so deep into the grass, there will not be much of a follow-though as a consequence, but do not deliberately stop the club. The ball will come out with little backspin and run. Practice again to learn how this works and what run you're going to get.

If the ball is sitting on top of the grass, lucky you. Take out a 6-iron and putt the ball out with a very level swing. You need some loft to get the ball out over the grass, but little enough so you can still be driving the ball forward. Make sure when you're getting ready to hit you don't disturb the grass and cause the ball to sink down in it.

The main thing to know when your ball is in greenside rough is where the bottom of the ball is. If not, you can blade it or fluff it.

[SavvySwede]

A short and stiff swing sounds like a recipe for inconsistency. You can play those shots like a bunker shot using the bounce to give yourself much more margin for error. You only need to gouge it out with that short chop when the ball is sitting all the way down.

[JetFan1983]

Not US Open rough, but thick enough for the ball to be lying down below the grass level, gives me fits from just off the green to about 30 feet out.  It is not rare for me to come up short and take 2 shots to reach the green, resulting in a double bogey.  I use my pitching wedge and try to hit down on the ball with a short stiff swing to pop it out, but it is obvious that I have no idea how far the ball will travel.   Any suggestions?

I do the opposite of what you do. I play the ball somewhere forward in my (narrowish) stance, I use a 56 degree wedge, open the face somewhat, and hit a short-backswing-type mini bunker shot (with some speed) that pops the ball out somewhat high (how high depends on speed and height of the follow-through) and lands somewhat on the soft side.

This isn't necessarily the scenario exactly, but here, you see Leishman forced into this shot because of the lie and the downward slope of the green. He needs to land it well short because it will kick forward and also needs the ball to not be "hot" when it lands. Playing the ball back in your stance with a lower lofted wedge like your PW will either cause you to duff it, or send it shooting across the green, well past the hole, even if you manage to hit it solidly.

Of course he was lucky to hit the hole here or it was going a few feet past (it was a tough shot), but normally, for us, the green won't be sloping that severely away from us (the real key here is not missing it where he missed it). But you get the general idea that on most munis, into a slope that isn't severely running away from you, the ball will roll a controllable amount of feet upon landing.

Playing the ball further back with less loft exposes the most amount of leading edge, and that's not what you want to do for these types of shots. If you grab a 56, which typically has the most bounce of any club in the bag, and play it forward of middle, you expose the most bounce and can thus execute the required shot.

[boogielicious]

I agree with @JetFan1983 on this.  Use the pitching technique in the thread below.

My go to club is my 52 degree wedge For uphill shots, I will use a lower lofted club like a PW or 9.  For downhill, my 58..

[billchao]

Not US Open rough, but thick enough for the ball to be lying down below the grass level, gives me fits from just off the green to about 30 feet out.  It is not rare for me to come up short and take 2 shots to reach the green, resulting in a double bogey.  I use my pitching wedge and try to hit down on the ball with a short stiff swing to pop it out, but it is obvious that I have no idea how far the ball will travel.   Any suggestions?

It's hard to control distance with that kind of shot with a PW. What I do (and did, earlier this week) is use my LW and use the bounce. Hit it like a mini-explosion bunker shot. The ball got up in the air just long enough to land on the first three feet or so of the green and rolled out towards the hole.

[NJpatbee]

Thanks for the great tips!  A few practice sessions are in order and it is clear that my technique is not a good one.