Greenside Rough

Select your SW or LW. Tall grass tends to close the face, so you need loft to help you.

  Play the ball back in your stance off your back toe.

Take a normal chipping stroke.

With your ball positioned further back in your stance, the club will contact the ball on a steeper descent. This should pop the ball up…and onto the green.

The ball will roll more because there is more grass between you and the ball. Select the right landing spot.

Lofty ideas work best for balls nestled in the greenside rough.

In this lesson, my ball landed in the greenside rough… yikes. The key is not to panic.

The first thing you need to do is to assess the lie. Is it sitting down or up in the rough? The lie will determine your club choice. W hat’s the lay of the land on the green? Begin thinking about a landing area. Here, I have a slippery downhill left-to-right sloping green.

With this type of shot, the PW, 9, 8 or 7 irons need to stay in the bag. A more lofted club is your best bet. Now, let’s take a closer look at the situation. This green slopes down and has a left-to-right undulation. So I’ll need to land this puppy not on the green, but on the fringe, favoring the left side…and from there, let the slope take the ball to the hole. Join me as I play it out.