You crush your tee shot on the dogleg left hole, but a persistent left to right wind starts fading the ball away from the center of the fairway. Frantic body English does not relinquish nature’s forces. It is going to be a close call if your shot stays in the short grass. You chase after it, and that sinking feeling starts to kick in when there is no white pill to be spotted where you hoped your ball would be.

After a short search, one of your wisecracking playing partners spots it hiding deep in the fairway rough and offers to let you borrow his weed whacker. Your ball has taken refuge in the spinach, the cabbage, the thick stuff.

You have 220 yards left to the front of the green with water protecting the right side. You decide you can reach the putting surface with a solid 5-wood and…

Stop right there, Brian Chapman, head golf professional at Balsam Mountain Preserve in Sylva, N.C., would whisper (though likely wanting to scream) in your ear.

“With amateurs, the biggest mistake in the rough is trying to hit that heroic shot out of a lie that does not allow for that shot,” says Chapman. “Normally, it is more of a recovery shot that is called for. Get the ball out and back in play. The first thing, and the most important thing that dictates what club you use and what shot you choose out of the rough is the lie—how the ball is sitting in the grass.

“The odds of hitting that miraculous shot six feet from the pin to make the birdie putt out the rough are not in your favor,” adds Chapman. “Always look to get the ball back in play safely. And then try to make a par, or your best score, from that point. Most golfers do not take their medicine when they have that poor lie in the rough.”

Chapman offers his sound advice while peering across a majestic Blue Ridge Mountains vista. Balsam Mountain Preserve is an Arnold Palmer-designed layout that opened for play in 2008. The course sits at an altitude above 4,000 feet and offers sweeping panoramic views of the surrounding peaks. Balsam Mountain Preserve is a Chaffin/Light Associates development that seamlessly melds with nature in a 4,400-acre preserve.

The rough at Balsam Mountain Preserve is primarily Kentucky bluegrass, but its clubface-grabbing characteristics offer similar challenges to the more ubiquitous Bermuda strains.

“Sometime you get lucky when your shot goes in the rough,” says Chapman. “The ball can sit on top of the grass, giving you a nice lie and allowing you to hit that hybrid club or fairway wood or even a longer iron out of it, which allows you to go for your normal shot. More commonly, though, what you have to deal with is the ball nestling down in some of the taller grass, which calls for an entirely different club selection.”

Chapman says he prefers relying on a wedge—pitching, sand or lob—when the ball is resting low in the rough.

“My main point with amateurs in club selection is to pick something with a lot of loft on it,” he says. “You are going to need that loft to extract the ball and get it up in the air and advance it down the fairway.”

The setup for a successful recovery shot out of the rough varies somewhat from a normal shot from the fairway, according to Chapman’s instruction.

He recommends taking your normal grip and stance. Grip pressure should be a little bit tighter than normal, particularly in the left hand (for right-handers), to keep the grass from twisting the clubhead. A caveat, though, is to not grip it so tightly that is restricts your wrists from cocking. Chapman also suggests that his students grip down on the club for better clubhead control.

The ball position needs to be more toward your back foot with your hands a little more forward of the ball. Your weight should be slightly more on your front foot. Chapman teaches golfers to stand a little closer to the ball and to feel like they are standing a little taller.

“The reason for all of these setup changes is to promote a steeper angle of attack down into the ball, which allows the ball to get up in the air quickly and out of the rough,” says Chapman. “You need to strike down on the ball and hold the angle with your wrists. Aggressively accelerate through the ball. That way it will get the clubhead through the grass.”

There is no need to open the clubface when hitting out of the rough in most instances, according to Chapman. “You are going to have grass that catches between the ball and the clubface. That decreases the spin on the ball so it will roll a lot more. It will release and run out.”

Ineffective shots out of the rough, he says, are usually caused by poor club selection, not hinging the wrists and decelerating through the golf ball.

“Hitting out of the rough requires smart course management along with good technique,” says Chapman. “That means figuring out where your hazards are and not hitting out of the rough into more rough or into worse trouble. Hit that sand wedge or pitching wedge back into play and dial in to a distance that is a good number for you for your next shot.”

Rough around the green

Thick rough does not come into play just around the fairways, of course. It sometimes protects greens to penalize errant approach shots. One of golf’s greatest shots was Tom Watson’s birdie escape from deep rough on No. 17 at Pebble Beach on his way to winning the 1982 U.S. Open. Watson’s 2-iron tee shot on the par-3 hole disappeared in the greenside rough. Using his sand wedge, Watson was able to blast the ball out and into the hole with a remarkable recovery shot.

That is not a shot that most amateurs can expect to make, particularly with the pressure on, but Chapman provides advice that allows every golfer to improve that part of their game.

He says there are “basically two different types of shots” that you can use from greenside rough. One is where you need a shot to carry a bunker, or are short-sided with little green to work with and you want to stop the ball fairly quickly out of the rough. The other is where there is plenty of green to work with and the ball can run out to the hole.

For the higher and softer shot, Chapman recommends moving the ball more toward the front of your stance. “It is very similar to hitting a bunker shot,” he says. “Open your clubface by turning it to the right. Also open your stance by turning your body to the left. Grip down on the club a little bit for better control and then take an accelerating swing using mainly your arms and your chest. Cock your wrists and accelerate the club as it slides under the ball. Keep the clubface open all the way through the shot and that will bring the ball out high and soft.”

Chapman says most amateurs are initially uncomfortable taking such a big swing on such a short shot. “Their mind tells them that the ball is going to fly a long distance. But you open up the clubface to compensate for that.”

For the low running shot out of greenside rough, Chapman offers different setup advice. “Conversely, if you have a lot of green to work with, set up like you do in the fairway rough with the ball back in your stance—that is going to deloft the club—and keep your feet a little bit closer together because you don’t have a big swing. It’s just a short little chip shot. The ball is going to come out lower and run farther. If the pin is on the far side of green, put the ball off your back toe, pick out a spot where you want to land the ball on the green and then watch it run the rest of the way.”

Chapman recommends that golfers wanting to improve their scores should allot occasional practice time to hitting out of the rough instead of just addressing the challenge as it confronts them during a round.

“Getting better at hitting out of the rough comes with practice,” says Chapman. “Improvement comes through trial and error and observation. You learn that the less grass you see between the clubface and the ball, the less lofted club you can use. A lot of golfers just like hitting out of the fairway. Go drop some balls in the rough off the edge of the practice tee, or drop an extra ball in the rough during a practice round. That is how you will get better.”