On a golf course, as a rule, trouble comes at us swiftly and unexpectedly. There are times when we do not quite expect to carry a brook or a cross trap, or when we know we can easily miss a green with a wood or a long iron. Then we are not surprised when we find ourselves in difficulties. But much more often we stand on a tee, with a wide fair­way beckoning, swing—and find ourselves in the woods or heavy rough.

Generally, there are three kinds of trouble we can reach with a shot off the fairway: woods, rough, or a fairway trap. The first thought in each case should be to get out of the trouble, whatever it is. Good players have often made great shots from seemingly impossible positions. That's fine, for them. But not for you.

Woods and Rough

In the woods, unless you are extremely deep, there is an opening of some sort. Play out through it, even if you have to play the shot back toward the tee. But get out on the fairway. If, by any chance, you are going to make a great shot, the fairway is the place to do it, not the woods. Any club that will get you out safely is the club to use.

From the rough, much depends on the distance you can safely try for and still get the ball into the fairway. Rough is of almost an infinite variety, from thin, short, scraggly grass, which often gives you a lie no worse than one in the fairway, through short, dense, clinging grass to high grass and weeds.

There is probably no rough so thick that a ball cannot be extricated from it and delivered a short distance with a sand wedge. The trouble with us is that we try to get real distance from the rough and often wind up with the ball advanced only a few yards and still in the long grass.

In making almost any shot from long or heavy grass, the point to remember is that we must hit down on the ball with a club lofted enough to be sure we get the ball out, regard­less of distance. To get a sharp downward stroke we will make it easy for ourselves if we play the ball back to a point midway between our feet and, if the grass is at all heavy, take a slightly more upright swing.

It is impossible to give any rules as to what club should be used. That depends entirely on the texture and height of the grass, the lie of the ball, and the distance you think you can get while still, with safety, getting clear of the rough.

You should remember, though, that if an iron is used the ball will come out with less backspin on it—even none at all —and therefore will run farther than you expect. This is because the grass, getting between the ball and the face of the club, reduces the club's "grip," the normal friction between ball and club face. A shot from the rough is less likely to hold a green but it will pick up distance on a fairway.

It is also worth mentioning that surprising success is quite often possible with a No. 4 wood, if the lie is not bad. The more rounded head of the wooden club slips through the grass more easily than the bar like head of an iron. The latter catches a lot of grass, slowing the speed and cushioning the blow. That is why, with the irons, we strike a more sharply descending blow in the rough, to get as little grass as possible between the club face and the ball.

Fairway Traps

The traps placed to catch errant drives, or wandering sec­ond shots on par-5 holes, are usually shallow. If they are not, waste no time thinking about how to get distance from them. Just get out on the fairway with whatever club will get you  there.

But when they are shallow, it is possible to get quite a bit of distance from them if the lie is good. Let whatever distance you try to get, though, be dependent entirely on a club that will get you safely out. For instance... [Chapter Incomplete]

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