Course management
Approach from the rough: read the lie before the yardage
The same 7-iron from the same rough carried 87 yards from one lie and about 80 yards further from another. How to sort a lie in the rough into one of three types, and which club and target go with each.
Two 7-irons hit with Trackman by the director of instruction at the TOURAcademy at TPC Scottsdale, from rough cut to about 3.5 inches before the Waste Management Phoenix Open, carried 80 yards apart. The first, from a thick lie with the grass growing slightly into the ball, carried 87 yards with 1,300rpm of backspin. The second came from a lie where the grass grew towards the target. It left the face at 115mph, against 121mph for his stock 7-iron from the fairway, and carried about as far as that fairway shot, with less than half its 7,200rpm of backspin. He wrote up the tests for GolfWRX.
Mark Broadie’s benchmarks for the PGA Tour, built from tour shot data from 2003 to 2010, show what the rough costs tour players. From 140 yards in the rough, tour players take 3.15 strokes on average to hole out; from the fairway they take that many from about 193 yards. At 120 yards, the penalty is 0.23 strokes.
What to check before taking a yardage
Before taking a yardage, look at three things.
- How much of the ball is above the grass. All of it, roughly half, or less than half.
- Which way the grass behind the ball is lying. Grass that looks shiny is lying away from you, towards the target. According to the TPC Scottsdale write-up, grass that looks dark is growing back towards you and will catch the hosel and close the face.
- What sits between the ball and the club. Hover the club behind the ball without grounding it hard. Nick Bova, a Golf Digest Best in State teacher in New Jersey, says some grass trapped between the clubface and the ball, with the ball often sitting up, is a sign of a flyer.
Less than half the ball showing, dark grass
This is the lie that produced 87 yards with a 7-iron. The instructor noted that clubhead speed and strength help get a ball out of it, so a golfer with a slower swing should expect less from the same lie.
We’d pick a spot on the fairway that leaves a full wedge, and take nothing with less loft than a 9-iron to reach it. A hybrid or long iron from this lie brings the green into range only on paper: the grass closes the face and takes the spin off, so the ball comes out low, turns left for a right-hander and runs.
About half the ball showing
Expect less spin than from the fairway and more run once the ball lands. Take your normal club for the distance to the middle of the green rather than the flag. When the flag is tucked behind a bunker, the middle is the target even from 100 yards; a ball with less spin is unlikely to stop near a short-sided pin.
Ball sitting up on shiny grass
This is the flyer. Bova says the club will “glide through the rough faster” and the ball “comes out really hot”, with little spin and a knuckling flight. His adjustment is to “take one or two less clubs when you suspect a flyer”. He adds that flyers are most likely from light to moderate rough in dry conditions. We would take the second club off then.
Pick a landing spot at or short of the front edge and let the ball run on. Taking two clubs less matters most when the green runs away from you or there is trouble over the back, since a flyer hit with the normal club carries further than usual and, with little spin, finishes well past the flag.
On a par 5 the same lie can help. From a down-grain lie, the instructor’s advice was to plan for the extra carry and roll, which can bring the green within reach in two with a club that would normally come up short.
Sources
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