Question for lower handicap players. I'm not always in the short grass. I hit a lot of irons from light rough. 2-3 inches Bermuda. Ball always sinks down to ground in it. I get good contact, ball flight and line but can't get distance down. I either get a flyer and blow it over green or end up 15 yds short. How do you judge how hard to hit it. This is with similar lie in short rough.

Im not super low but im a 5

Judging a flyer lie for normally depends if grass is laying down toward the flag or not. If I think it's a flyer or could be I try to play away from trouble. If your not a low handicapper having a wedge in your hand doesn't mean hit it at the flag all the time. If you aren't sure how the ball will come out aim to the fat side of the green and away from water/hazards

Take your 2 putts (maybe 1) and your bad break and get the hell outta there. No sense in risking a big number

Aggie369 said:

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If your not a low handicapper having a wedge in your hand doesn't mean hit it at the flag all the time. If you aren't sure how the ball will come out aim to the fat side of the green and away from water/hazards

Take your 2 putts (maybe 1) and your bad break and get the hell outta there. No sense in risking a big number

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I'll be that guy who disagrees. Unless you are in some kind of event where you MUST keep a legit score, try hitting some more challenging shots. If you don't ever try going for the flag in a practice round, you won't have that experience if you want to try that shot in a tourney/cash game.

If pace of play isn't an issue, and your group is super laid back, try hitting two balls from the same spot but use different approaches. Youll never know which clubs or which swings suit your game the best if you don't try them all.

Two huge factors - which way is the grain of the grass going and just how thick is it. If it's against your line of play, then I expect it to grab my club if there is any thickness at all. So I may consider take something one club longer than I normally would. If the grain is with me, then the chances of getting a cleaner contact and potentially a flyer increase greatly. So I'm more likely to play my usual club for that distance.

In either case, I usually choke down on the club to help myself maintain control of the clubhead.

hold on. 2-3 inches of bermuda I would not consider "light rough". Since you said it sinks down into it, I will assume you are talking about a lie like this:



First - these are just hard shots, so even a small amount of consistency from these is difficult. For me, if I am in a lie like the image I am showing, I probably won't hit anything longer than a 8i - there is just no need to try it. If I am 100 yds away in this lie, I will take one more club and swing at about 80%, and I will grip a little bit harder with my left hand to keep the club from turning over in the grass too much. Over swinging with a lot of strength to gouge the ball out will only lead to worse contact. To prove that you can try swinging extra hard to gouge a ball from the fairway and see how many out of 10 shots you hit with good contact. You'll have better contact with more in control swings, so swing in control with one more club out of a lie like this is what I do. Yes - sometimes you get a flier. Sometimes you make decent enough contact to get it somewhat close to where you wanted and sometimes I even hit it high on the club and it kind of knuckles out and bounces up to the green...you just need to try and maximize your chances of a good shot and minimize damage, IMHO.

YMMV so you have to start with some baseline and then adjust swing speeds/clubs based on the lie and distance to calibrate.

my hdcp is +1 and this is just my own personal view of your situation.

My response was based on trying to score well out if a lie you arent sure on...not on practicing

Obviously the more bad lies you hit out of the more experience you gain and the better you can judge how to hit those shots

good advice right here.

Depth is about right but not nearly that thick is what i run into. I w guess half as dense.
Appreciate all the advice I'm getting.

if we are talking less dense than the image above, then I would probably go up to a 5i max and still swing 80%. The less dense it gets, the more comfortable I am taking a normal strength swing, but all the same stuff applies for me. I will keep that left hand/arm more firm through impact, almost as if I am trying to hit a fade. Let the grass grabbing the club square the clubface for you. You'd be surprised how many times your club just gets through the grass without too much hindrance. Even if it doesn't a nice toe ball or heel shot might still have a fighting chance.

As far as direction of the grass...when you are talking 2-4" bermuda rough, there is no direction IMHO...it's just a mess. Different types of grasses tend to give you more direction but bermuda that long doesn't have the direction/grain effect you see in the fairway, fringe and on the green.

Growing up in TX and having to learn to play on pure bermuda makes going anywhere else and playing in thick rough a dream.

The worst shot to have to hit is a chip from off the green, from a fringe that is leaning towards you. Those are hard shots when you can't run the ball up to where you need it.

I have never understood the concept of a flyer lie, either in my game, or in concept.
I either get a great strike and the ball flies as far as I expect or I get too much grass and it comes up short.

For me, it's all about the direction the grass is growing, and how the type, height, and thickness of the grass will impact the the quality of the ball strike. For thicker lies I definitely modify the amount of wrist hinge and how sharply I hit down on the ball.

In terms of getting the correct distance, I've played long enough to guess/calculate correctly, as well as execute the swing, about 75% of the time.

Ball normally doesn't have as much spin but launches at same angle...kinda like a knuckle ball

It has to do with the amount of grass that is compressed. If just the right amount, it takes the grooves out of play and causes less spin. If it is a ton of grass between the club and ball it softens the blow and goes less distance.

Shots like that are exactly like a bunker shot... You actually want the grass between the ball and your club face..: don't come steep, open up, swing harder and aim left a little.

Assuming you are around the green...