HEAVY ROUGH BASICS

HEAVY ROUGH BASICS
​

Golf is back up and running, the lockdown rules have been relaxed and many golfers may have noticed their courses rough has grown up. First of all I think we need to have an acknowledgment of the phenomenal jobs our greenkeepers across the country have done to keep our courses in the fantastic condition. I can say first hand that Shaw Hill where I'm based is in pristine condition.

Many courses will have had to adapt, and therefore implemented a skeleton staff of greenkeepers to carry out essential maintenance to their courses. Fairways and greens will be great, as will tee boxes, however the rough may have grown up due to reduced staffing measures, along with essential course maintenance guidelines. With this in mind it would be useful to know how to play the ball when it is nestled down in heavy rough, so let's break it down with some basic adjustments we can make to help us advance that ball from the thick stuff.


- The grass when thick will likely wrap around the hosel (neck) of the golf club, with this in mind we can therefore open the clubface to help keep the loft on the clubface at impact

​- To also help with the open face, it would be a good idea to use a high lofted club, we need to have a good amount of dynamic loft through impact, this will only further help your attempts of advancing the ball.

- Hold the club tight, you guessed it, this again will help with keeping the loft of the club at impact, this whole process is about enabling yourself to have enough loft on the clubface at impact to get that ball advancing;  heavy rough wants to take loft away.

- My final point is to make a steep swing, this will help gouge that ball out from these tricky lies.

So there you have it, embrace the challenge of your courses rough which has grown since lockdown, and remember this the heavy rough shot is all dependant on having enough loft to get that ball out.

Good luck!