Yesterday during a round I had several instances where I was faced with 200 yard shot to the green from heavy rough. Instead of punching out with a wedge I decided to try my 4 hybrid to try to get greenside. I ended up going under the ball completely on one shot (embarrasing) and on another I hit a pop up around 30 yards after getting caught in the rough. I know you can firm up the grip/play the ball back/etc. but are you better just taking your lumps and punching out or is there a club/technique that is more effective?
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@Matt Kelton - As Clint Eastwood (as Dirty Harry) famously said, "a man's got to know his limitations..." 😎
In the second sudden-death hole at the St. Jude Classic yesterday, Sepp Straka's tee shot ended up in somewhat thick rough next to a water hazard. He took his shoe off to evaluate the option of playing the shot with one foot necessarily in the drink, but then - to Azinger's dismay - decided to take a drop a few yards back in the fairway. He stiffed an iron approach for his third and sank the par putt to extend the playoff.
Consider the lie and your confidence in your ability to made good contact along with the possible outcomes/penalties if you mishit it. Then choose your course of action and accept the result since you've properly thought it through.
Beyond that, don't leave yourself so many 200-yard shots from heavy rough next time!!
Hi @Matt Kelton, that is a lot to unpack!
As @Gerry_Lager stated depends a lot the circumstances. If I have a decent lie, I have hit my 5 wood. A little buried but can still get a "clean clubhead hit" I have hit my 3 iron crossover. Which I would recommend to everyone, it is very versatile for me and has a variety of uses. And if it's buried, then you have access the situation. Heck we have seen pro's take their lumps in order to"live"to play another day.
Heck, unless it's a shot I am really comfortable with and confident in of late I am trying to play the smarter shot. Very rare where us amateurs are going to pull off hero shot! And that decision turns a double or worse. So the smarter play turns into a bogey and move on to stop the bleeding!
Hope that helps. Took me a long time to get to that mind set and is paying off.
for me it depends on the severity of the rough, the lie, etc.. My train of thought would be what it would take to cut that distance in half. i.e. 225 out. say if I could get a 7i out of the rough and carry it 130 that would leave me less that 100. chip and a putt. So not necessarily a punch out but a shot that would get you in the fairway and reduce the yardage to the hole to give you a chance at par/bogey.