The key to recovering from the rough is being able to analyse your lie and make a judgement about your chance of recovery.
Sometimes we’re lucky in short or semi rough and can play just about any shot as if we were in the fairway. We can also face far tougher shots such as the one pictured here. Here we need more loft, a steeper angle of attack and more conservative expectations for how well we can extract the ball.
When faced with this situation, take a couple of practice swings in a similar position well away from the ball to get a feel for how the grass and club will react. Once you find that feeling, take your normal setup, swing steep and commit to smashing down on the top of the ball with the aim of minimising the amount of grass between club and ball.
