I'm curious what mental thoughts/ maneuvers Tom or people might have hitting from the rough...off the fairway with a hybrid or iron, or around the green with a wedge. Particularly in deep rough. My problem is the setup, to get the club deep down to the ball, and then the resistance of the rough preventing a smooth tilt/rotate backswing. It just messes with my backswing and I'll top it on the downswing. I know in a bunker, you can't touch the sand, but at least the backswing is uninterrupted.
Or do I just have to keep practicing??
@rbrtschroeder - You specifically mentioned deep rough so I'll answer that. Sorry if this gets long-winded because there is no straight forward answer, but basically you will always have to use your judgement on how bad is the lie, how far do I need to ball to go, room for rollout, do I need to fly a hazard, ....you get the point. So...
#1 Don't make a bad situation worse. Advance the ball, but make sure you get back to the fairway. Better to be trying to save par from the fairway than save bogey because you went into a hazard or didn't clear the rough. You won't be able to spin the ball, which means it will come out low.
2# You're going to have to be steeper into the ball. Don't think over the top. It's more about moving the ball back in the stance to have a more descending blow. IT'S NOT A CHOP. What @Shane Deel is referring to is that you need to get the club to the ball. In deep rough, that means the club has to enter the rough at a steeper angle. Also, usually a good idea to club up!
3# (Your specific question)You need speed! You asked about how to get a smooth backswing. Smooth is just a descriptor for how you feel. It doesn't really describe the actual motion of the club. I'm not saying to change your mechanics, just your setup(see #2). Focus on contact with the ball. My recommendation, drill 2.8 is the perfect swing for getting the ball out of deep rough.
Remember, these apply to deep rough! I can't tell you what your lie looks like on a forum. lol Hopefully, Tom agrees with my take.