What is the best way to get out of deep rough?
The safest play is to use a sand wedge to get back onto the fairway, ideally to a distance that is a full wedge from the green (half-wedges can be tricky). If the rough is not too deep, and you feel like gambling for more distance, you can try a lofted wood like a 7-wood or a 9-wood (a 3-wood or 5-wood might not have enough loft if the grass is too high) but understand what a gamble you may be taking. For an intermediate distance, you can try a 7 or 8-iron, but there is danger that the tall grass will snag the shaft and cause the face to close, resulting in a pulled shot. To help avoid that, open the face and swing outside-in, with any luck the club will slide thru the grass without getting snagged. At no time should you expect to hit a long iron in heavy rough.
Friday, September 05, 2003
If cavity-back irons have larger sweet spots, why would anyone ever want to use blade or muscle back irons?
I have a set of blades and a set of cavity backs. From my own experience, I have found that when I am swinging well and contacting the sweet spot every time with blade irons, I get a much more crisp feeling in the shot, it is a really good feeling. Also, the smaller head of the blade iron seems to do a better job of getting the ball out from bad lies, from the rough, and also from fairway sand bunkers when you have to pick the ball cleanly out of the sand. Sometimes, like any other golfer, I get into a slump and cannot consistently strike the ball on the sweet spot. When this happens, I take both sets to the range to get my confidence back, and have a contest between my blades and cavity-backs. When I am swinging well, the blades win. When I am not swinging as well, the cavity-backs win. I am not recommending to keep switching sets of clubs on the course, that would not promote consistency, I only do that on the range to help get my confidence back whenever a slump occurs.
I have a set of blades and a set of cavity backs. From my own experience, I have found that when I am swinging well and contacting the sweet spot every time with blade irons, I get a much more crisp feeling in the shot, it is a really good feeling. Also, the smaller head of the blade iron seems to do a better job of getting the ball out from bad lies, from the rough, and also from fairway sand bunkers when you have to pick the ball cleanly out of the sand. Sometimes, like any other golfer, I get into a slump and cannot consistently strike the ball on the sweet spot. When this happens, I take both sets to the range to get my confidence back, and have a contest between my blades and cavity-backs. When I am swinging well, the blades win. When I am not swinging as well, the cavity-backs win. I am not recommending to keep switching sets of clubs on the course, that would not promote consistency, I only do that on the range to help get my confidence back whenever a slump occurs.
Tuesday, September 02, 2003
If cavity-back irons have larger sweet spots, why would anyone ever want to use blade or muscle back irons?
From my own experience, I have found that when I am swinging well and contacting the sweet spot every time with blade irons, I get a much more crisp feeling in the shot, it is a really good feeling. Also, the smaller head of a blade iron seems to get the ball out of the rough more easily, and also for fairway sand bunkers when you have to pick the ball cleanly out of the sand. Sometimes, like any other golfer, I get into a slump and cannot consistently strike the ball on the sweet spot. Since I keep a set of cavity-back irons in my shed, I can take them to the range to get my confidence back, and have a contest between my blades and cavity-backs. When I am swinging well, the blades win. When I am not swinging as well, the cavity-backs win. I am not recommending to keep switching clubs on the course, that would not promote consistency, I only do that on the range to get my confidence back whenever a slump occurs. (see www.geocities.com/golfwithjoey)
From my own experience, I have found that when I am swinging well and contacting the sweet spot every time with blade irons, I get a much more crisp feeling in the shot, it is a really good feeling. Also, the smaller head of a blade iron seems to get the ball out of the rough more easily, and also for fairway sand bunkers when you have to pick the ball cleanly out of the sand. Sometimes, like any other golfer, I get into a slump and cannot consistently strike the ball on the sweet spot. Since I keep a set of cavity-back irons in my shed, I can take them to the range to get my confidence back, and have a contest between my blades and cavity-backs. When I am swinging well, the blades win. When I am not swinging as well, the cavity-backs win. I am not recommending to keep switching clubs on the course, that would not promote consistency, I only do that on the range to get my confidence back whenever a slump occurs. (see www.geocities.com/golfwithjoey)
