Escape thick rough – every time!

Tour star Jbe Kruger explains how to escape thick rough with ease

Last season, Jbe Kruger finished inside the top 60 in scrambling on the European Tour, which went some way to seeing the popular South African finishing 47th on the Race to Dubai. Not bad going for a player who was only playing his second full season on tour.

With that in mind, we asked the 2012 Avantha Masters champion for some insider information on how to get it clear of the cabbage at the first attempt.

1. ASSESS THE LIE

In really thick rough, the first thing you have to do is check how it’s lying. This tells me how I need to set-up to the ball, depending on how badly it is lying and how far clear of the rough I can expect to get out.

2. OPEN THE FACE

I open the face slightly so that, if the grass turns the face over, it’s pretty square. I’ll open it more if it’s really sitting down. I don’t grip it tighter; that doesn’t really matter much – it’s always going to turn.

3. FORWARD IN STANCE

If the ball is really lying down, I’ll move it forward a bit in my stance and try to take a little bit of a steeper approach into the ball. I find that if I open the face and put the ball forward, I make better contact with it than by setting it back in my stance.

4. WHEN TO PLAY OUT

Sometimes you have to take your medicine. Use this to get out when, even if you were to hit a good shot, it could go into a hazard. To me, even if you’re leading an event, one shot could make a big difference. It’s better to chip it out and try to make par.