damned rough

[Imurg]

I don't have an issue with long rough as such.
Ours is generally a poor shot to get to and deserves some sort of penalty
My annoyance is the deep rough in places where you can't see the ball entering it.
I hit 2 drives on our 13th yesterday
1st was a snap hook - it went over the brow of the slope, curled left and went out of sight long before reaching the bad stuff. With no reference point it was virtually impossible to find.
2nd shot was a"power" draw!
But, because it went further and it could be seen entering the rough, walked straight to it and found it within 10 seconds.
OK, the first drive was a shocker. But it would have been nice to actually have a chance to find it.
Having deep rough in blind positions slows things up. Have rough, by all means, but when you have no sight of it, cut it a bit lower so you can at least find it.

 

[Doon frae Troon]

I appreciate that. Golf for me is about enjoyment. I like to blast drives and try and get on gir at every hole possible.

I don't want to play conservatively to the point i am either playing everything as a par more or sinking single puts for par, i would rather chuck it tbh.

Hopefully the greenies will get the scythes out and make the course play fairer.

Sorry but what you play is not golf, it is just hitting.
To play the sport well you need to have the intelligence and skills to adapt to the conditions.

To cut the rough so hackers can get round without losing a ball is not the answer.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Answer to OP problem is simple. He gets down to the practice ground and grooves a swing that enables him to boom it down the middle every time. Might never get back onto the golf course to put that perfect driving swing into practice - but there is an answer - and it's with the player.

 

[power fade]

You guys make me laugh. Listening to you would think its only hackers that miss fairways...
So called hackers are just as likely to miss fairway with rescue or iron.
To clarify point.......i agree you should face a difficult shot from the rough..but you should at least have a shot.
Pros miss half the fairways they play, and are not losing balls.
Should they spend more time on the practice ground to hit 100% of fairways?
Cmon guys get real

 

[patricks148]

You guys make me laugh. Listening to you would think its only hackers that miss fairways...
So called hackers are just as likely to miss fairway with rescue or iron.
To clarify point.......i agree you should face a difficult shot from the rough..but you should at least have a shot.
Pros miss half the fairways they play, and are not losing balls.
Should they spend more time on the practice ground to hit 100% of fairways?
Cmon guys get real

Ive asked what your handicap is, but not had an answer, you have to play the conditions and if that means keeping it in play then so be it... i missed a load of fairways in our big comp at the weekend and shot well over my handicap. Im not complaining about the rough or the 4 lost balls.

if you are getting shots on holes its sensible play to use them. there has to be an advantage for hitting the fairway, with no rough there isn't

 

[power fade]

Last month was fine, this month the rough is horrific. I take your point but dont agree with you.
i dont want to play like a pensioner for a nett par.
Btw handicap is 13.

 

[Slab]

It’s gonna happen at this time of the year though, rough does what it does (I gave up a club membership once because I felt the GK’s were setting the course rough far too difficult one year and I wasn't getting VFM)

Vote with feet or accept that these few weeks are not going to be your best scores

 

[patricks148]

I don't have an issue with long rough as such.
Ours is generally a poor shot to get to and deserves some sort of penalty
My annoyance is the deep rough in places where you can't see the ball entering it.
I hit 2 drives on our 13th yesterday
1st was a snap hook - it went over the brow of the slope, curled left and went out of sight long before reaching the bad stuff. With no reference point it was virtually impossible to find.
2nd shot was a"power" draw!
But, because it went further and it could be seen entering the rough, walked straight to it and found it within 10 seconds.
OK, the first drive was a shocker. But it would have been nice to actually have a chance to find it.
Having deep rough in blind positions slows things up. Have rough, by all means, but when you have no sight of it, cut it a bit lower so you can at least find it.

Last month was fine, this month the rough is horrific. I take your point but dont agree with you.
i dont want to play like a pensioner for a nett par.
Btw handicap is 13.

If you want to get lower you gave to play the different conditions though the year, if you are likely to hit it in the rough then the sensible play is to take club that won't put you in trouble, its called course management.
leaning to keep the ball in play is part of getting better.

i played a Boat of Garten last night and that is a fairly short course buy if you miss the fairway on pretty much every hole the ball is lost. I was hitting hybrid or iron off the tee and only used driver 3 times, still managed to get round in 73 gross (par 70) best ive played for a while, kept the ball in play which was the key

 

[power fade]

If you want to get lower you gave to play the different conditions though the year, if you are likely to hit it in the rough then the sensible play is to take club that won't put you in trouble, its called course management.
leaning to keep the ball in play is part of getting better.

i played a Boat of Garten last night and that is a fairly short course buy if you miss the fairway on pretty much every hole the ball is lost. I was hitting hybrid or iron off the tee and only used driver 3 times, still managed to get round in 73 gross (par 70) best ive played for a while, kept the ball in play which was the key

Thats good shooting.

Just feeling a bit frustrated as i am playing well, but scoring in buffer. If this was last month the odd shot in the rough wasnt as sore as is currently.

My driving is pretty good and i find the rescue club a bit hookier and probably on a par with driver accuracy wise.

I like the course and guess its a fairly short term issue that will pass soon enough.

 

[patricks148]

Thats good shooting.

Just feeling a bit frustrated as i am playing well, but scoring in buffer. If this was last month the odd shot in the rough wasnt as sore as is currently.

My driving is pretty good and i find the rescue club a bit hookier and probably on a par with driver accuracy wise.

I like the course and guess its a fairly short term issue that will pass soon enough.

The main thing is to learn Course management and how to score, biggest thing for me and what got me to Cat1, keep it in play.

 

[Curls]

If we get a dry spell it'll burn a lot of it off, but yeah the rough at ours is extremely rough at the moment! And it is frustrating to feel you're playing wel but not scoring, I know the feeling. After the last two rounds where a bad descision or two turned into card wreckers, I've adopted the new tactic of going into the long stuff with a wedge in my hand. Baring a miracle good lie, if I find it, that's what I'm hitting it with.

On our long par 4s I'll play driver off the tee. Sure I might hit the fairway more often with a hybrid, but if it leaves me 250 into a protected green whats the point? Lay up, pitch on and hope to 2 putt for a bogey? That's as likely to result in a double as driving it (for my game at least). Im not encouraging everyone to pull out the big dog, you have to judge it on your own game, for me the best tactic is to play aggresively until that avenue is closed, others will do better with a conservative approach.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

We have some deep, deep rough but most of it is well offline and so if you go in it then you've hit a rank poor shot and deserve to struggle to get it out. Finding it can be a bonus. The bigger issue is the semi-rough which has a lot of clover in and the ball really sits down. Can be tricky to find (slowing play) and it sinks to the bottom making it hard to get out. Not a complaint per se (that's what the fairway is for) and tough to know what the green staff can do. I don't want them to cut it right back and not have any semi. You need definition and some thing to punish an offline shot

 

[jpxpro]

rough at my course is horrendous this year 95% a lost ball if you go in it, the 5% that you find youve next to no chance of getting out, i have emailed club asking if something can be done otherwise ill be seeking a new club, i love golf and spend £100 a month minimum on it at club dont see the point in paying that amount of money if i dont enjoy it.

 

[TheAlbatross]

Played Royal Lytham Saturday and Fairhaven Sunday and the length of the rough 5 yards off tight fairways was unplayable for the majority of amateur golfers. 10 yards off line with the drive resulted in a provisional off the tee, a good four man search for the first ball and if found a hack out sideways. The penalty for a very slightly off-line drive affected the length of the round as well as the score and after a while you just get sick of trudging through the rough hoping to stumble across what was a below average tee shot but certainly not a poor one.

 

[delc]

I am sure that a lot of clubs grow their rough long because:
a) Some Open Championship courses have long rough, e.g. Carnoustie (aka Car-nasty).
b) It cuts down on green keeping costs.

As to point a) at Open Championships, there are always lots of marshals and spectatators to spot exactly where the ball went into the rough. Also Tour Pros are much better and stronger golfers than the average club golfer and have more chance of hacking the ball out.

BTW I know that our club lost several members at £1700 per annum each, plus what they would have spent in the bar, this year, because they were fed up with losing balls in deep rough all the time and slow rounds because of all the searching! So point b) is probably a false economy!

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Our deep deep stuff is well off-line during the summer as it gets horribly deep. It's thinning out with the hot weather but remains especially thick at ground level. Takes a pretty guff shot to get in it.

 

[delc]

Our deep deep stuff is well off-line during the summer as it gets horribly deep. It's thinning out with the hot weather but remains especially thick at ground level. Takes a pretty guff shot to get in it.

If you really do swing the club like Hogan and hit it equally straight, no wonder you don't have a problem with the rough!

 

[davidy233]

None of the courses around here seem to have long rough infringing on play at the moment. Compared to around ten years ago there seems to be a policy of keeping the rough at a level where you will find your ball.

I noticed Carnoustie mentioned above - I walked it watching the amateur championship final a couple of weeks ago and the rough wasn't frightening at all

 

[Region3]

None of the courses around here seem to have long rough infringing on play at the moment. Compared to around ten years ago there seems to be a policy of keeping the rough at a level where you will find your ball.

I noticed Carnoustie mentioned above - I walked it watching the amateur championship final a couple of weeks ago and the rough wasn't frightening at all

I played Sherwood Forest a few weeks ago, and to look at, the rough looked fine. It wasn't very thick (that long wispy grass) and you could easily find your ball in it.

Trying to hit a ball straight out of it was another matter though. Easily the hardest rough to play from I've ever come across.

 

[davidy233]

I played Sherwood Forest a few weeks ago, and to look at, the rough looked fine. It wasn't very thick (that long wispy grass) and you could easily find your ball in it.

Trying to hit a ball straight out of it was another matter though. Easily the hardest rough to play from I've ever come across.

That's how rough should be - easy to find ball but punishes you for being in it