WHO: Luke Donald
WHAT: A 159-yard 7-iron from thick rough to six feet for the winning birdie
WHERE: 445-yard par-4 18th hole at Innisbrook's Copperhead Course
WHEN: Playoff at the Transitions Championship
Donald made it look easy, the way he nonchalantly flushed his ball out of the rough in the playoff, but it was a very hard shot. The rough was thick, and you never know how a ball in that position will come out. Donald's ball flew at the flagstick, landed softly over a greenside bunker and rolled toward the hole.
A lot of good ballstrikers aren't as reliable out of the rough because they hit down so much, causing flyer shots. Their balls either fly farther than they expect, or the ball rolls too far after landing. These downward-striking swingers also sometimes get what I call "nothing shots." Their hands get so far forward at impact that they contact the ball high on the clubface, causing the ball to pop up and finish well short of the intended target.
Donald, though, is not a handle-dragger. He has a little toss at impact. He releases the club enough so he can hit down while avoiding the flyer or "nothing" ball. Instead, he can control his distances and stick shots close to where they land.
THE DRILL: To practice hitting irons from the rough, take swings with no ball. The goal is to take the green off the grass, or give the grass a very close shave, without taking a divot or touching the dirt. In the best shots from rough, the clubhead gouges out a lot of grass but not turf. Use this drill when playing. Stand well away from the ball, and take a practice swing, making sure to give the grass a good buzz-cut without touching the dirt.
 
One more thing: Thick grass slows down the clubhead through impact, so you need to take more club. Donald hit a seven iron from 157 yards out. Normally, his seven iron goes 170 yards. So you'll need one or two extra clubs for the rough shots.
Golf Magazine Top 100 Teacher Brian Manzella runs his own teaching academy at English Turn Golf and Country Club in New Orleans.

SWAP MEET
Rules Guy,
My buddy and I were partnered up against a familiar (and consistently annoying) twosome last week. After I putted out on one hole, my friend picked my ball up out of the cup and handed it to me… or at least I thought he did. Fast forward to the next hole. After my buddy teed off, I got set to drive. That's when I noticed that my ball wasn't marked the way I always have it. Somehow my friend had swapped our balls on the last green and teed off with mine. The guys we were playing against let us off the hook, but said if it happened again we would lose the hole for playing the wrong ball. Were they being generous?
– Gary D., via e-mail
It may have been a little bit sloppy for your partner to mix up your golf ball, but it was far from being illegal. According to Decision 15-1/1, a ball played from the teeing ground can never be considered a wrong ball — since you are allowed to change balls between holes, there would be nothing to stop you and your partner from swapping them on purpose, let alone by accident. I guess you can let those other guys think they did you a favor, but if one of them ever tries to pull that faux rule out on you again, tell him the only wrong ball in play is the one on his shoulders.
 

 
Your drive has ended up next to a tree. For most players this scenario usually leads to a penalty stroke—"I'll take an unplayable." That's certainly a smart way to handle the situation, because as you can see in the first photo above, taking your normal stance with a 60-degree wedge means striking the tree almost immediately at the start of your backswing.
Another solution would be to go to the other side of the ball and swing an upside-down 4-iron left-handed for a bump-and-run shot up to the green. I know many pros and even some amateurs who have practiced left-handed swings enough to pull this off. But if you've never practiced lefty shots, or have a hard time pulling off bump-and-run shots even with your everyday right-handed swing, this isn't a realistic option, either.
There is, however, another play that you may not have considered: Stick with a right-handed swing approach, but change your setup posture by bending over sharply at your waist and playing the ball back in your stance. If you then also grip down on the shaft and stand closer to the ball, you'll naturally produce a drastically more upright (closer to vertical) swing plane, and you'll be able to fit the club into the space between the ball and the tree (as shown in the third photo).
Swinging on a more vertical plane isn't too difficult an adjustment to make, but to generate enough power with a short-shafted club (i.e., to get the ball all the way to the green) you'll have to swing harder than normal. By using a 7- or 8-iron (delofted because you're playing the ball back in your stance) you can carry the thick rough before rolling the shot up to the green (last photo).
How much do you need to bend over at the waist? Every case will be different. My simple answer: Bend over and tilt your swing plane until it becomes vertical enough to clear the tree. Try this shot and a few lefty swings during your next practice round—it'll be nice to have both options ready for your next great escape.
 

WHO: Justin Rose
WHAT: A 135-yard 52-degree wedge to five feet for a birdie
WHERE: 460-yard par-4 14th hole at Doral
WHEN: Final round of the WGC-Cadillac Championship
 
Justin has total control of his irons and hits a lot of greens in regulation. That's why he enjoys playing harder courses, including Doral, which place a premium on precision irons. Last week, the wind was always blowing, so most shots were either into the wind, downwind or cross-wind. Playing in the wind is natural for European tour veterans like Justin, because there's so much wind on the continent.
 
Justin usually keeps his ball-flight low with irons by using a somewhat abbreviated follow-through. Coming down, he quickly moves onto his left side, rotates his torso and doesn't let the club roll over much in the through swing. That assures the ball will take off with a lower-than-normal trajectory and without too much spin.
 
THE DRILL: Learn to flight the ball with an abbreviated follow-through by using a mid or high iron at practice. The iron should be one club more than you'd normally use to hit a certain distance. For example, if your target is 140 yards away and you normally hit your six-iron 140 yards, then use a five-iron for this drill.
 
Imagine there's a big tree just ahead of and a bit to the left of your lead leg. The imaginary tree would be directly where your club would travel near the top of the follow-through. Now hit shots with a slightly narrower than normal stance and stand a bit closer than normal to the ball. Also, try to really hit the ball hard. But you have to abbreviate the follow-through to avoid hitting the imaginary tree. You'll have to engage your body's core to make this hard-but-short swing while stopping the shaft fairly quickly after impact.
Golf Magazine Top 100 Teacher Jon Tattersall is a co-founder of Golf Performance Partners in Atlanta.

Rules Guy,
My buddy and I were playing our weekly match when I hit a drive just off of one of the cart paths. I had my eyes peeled for the ball as I drove us down to go look for it, but neither of us saw it anywhere. Suddenly, I saw the ball come shooting out from under our cart. Figuring I had run over it, I stopped the cart, got out and grabbed my ball. I put the ball back where I was pretty sure I had run over it, but I wasn't sure what to do next. I figured that, since it was an accident, I didn't deserve any penalty, but my buddy said he thought I should have taken a couple stokes for moving my ball. Was he right?
– Eric Rooney, Ontario, Canada
Even if you don't have to follow the rules of the road in your golf cart, you still need to follow the Rules of Golf. You may not have moved the ball on purpose (or even really moved it yourself), but you are still responsible for causing the ball to move, which is a violation of Rule 18-2. You were right to replace the ball as close as possible to its original position, but you should also have given yourself a one-stroke penalty for causing it to move.
Believe it or not, the fact that you were the one driving is the mitigating factor here. If your opponent had been behind the wheel when the cart hit your ball, it would have fallen under Rule 18-3a, and you would have been able to replace your ball without penalty. So next time you hit one near the cart path, offer to sit shotgun for your buddy just to be safe.
 

WHO: Rory McIlroy
WHAT: A 69-foot bunker shot to six feet to save par
WHERE: 179-yard par-3 15th hole at PGA National
WHEN: Final round of the Honda Classic
 
Everybody gushes about McIlroy's gorgeous swing, but his short game is just as awesome, maybe better. He leads the Tour in putting and scrambling and is second in sand saves. McIlroy won the Honda because he made three very special par saves on the back nine on Sunday.
The best might have come at 15. From a greenside bunker, he blasted out with a rock under his ball. I'm not sure if McIlroy knew the stone was there, but he hit the shot as if he knew, because instead of flying the ball most of the way to the hole he landed it well short and let the ball run up toward the flag.
 
THE DRILL: When you have a loose impediment under or against your ball in a bunker, you have to understand that the impediment will affect the spin of the ball. The impediment will probably cause the ball to roll instead of spinning and quickly stopping. At practice in bunkers, most people hit shots only from good lies.
But not all sand shots come with good lies, so you need to practice from bad lies too. Hit shots from buried lies, with stones and twigs under your ball and in other unusual situations. The key is to use not a special swing, but your normal bunker-shot swing. Be sure to account for the fact that the ball will roll rather than stop quickly. When you face similar situations on the course, you won't get nervous. Like McIlroy, you can calmly hit the specialty shots with poise and high expectations.
Golf Magazine Top 100 Teacher Jim Murphy teaches at Sugar Creek Country Club in Sugar Land, Texas.
 

HOLING OUT
Dearest Rules Guy: At my favorite local course, a pesky par-3 green seems to attract drives from a nearby par 4. While teeing off on the par-4 hole, my buddy sliced one toward the par-3 green and, sure enough, the ball wound up in that hole! He gave himself an extra stroke for an unplayable ball and returned to the tee, but was this the right course of action?
– Gary Miller, Hooterville, Iowa
The times when the governing gods of golf hand you free relief are certainly few and far between — and alas, your buddy missed out. Because the ball landed on the green of a neighboring hole, the rules would deem interference by a wrong putting green (Rule 25-3a). Rule 25-3b goes on to state specifically that the player must take relief without penalty by dropping at the nearest point of relief, no closer to the hole, ensuring that the ball does not first strike any part of the wrong putting surface before coming to rest. In returning to where he played his previous shot, he played under stroke and distance and would be hitting his third shot off the tee.
FAT CHANCE
Hey Rules Guy: During a friendly match, my opponent took a mighty swipe at his ball on an approach shot and laid a divot right over his ball (you might say he hit it a little fat). The front-end of the divot was still attached to the ground, while the rest was almost completely covering the ball. I told him he had two options: hit it as it lay or take an unplayable. He thought he was entitled to peel the divot back without penalty. Who's right?
– Kenneth Brown, New Orleans, La.
Sounds like someone could have used a few more minutes out on the range. You are right. A divot that is not completely detached cannot be considered a loose impediment (Decision 13-2/5). By removing the fixed divot, your opponent would be improving his lie and should have received a two-stroke penalty under Rule 13-2. While you may be giving your opponent too much credit by saying he only hit it "a little fat," you deserve kudos for knowing your rulebook.
STRAPPED IN
Dear Rules Guy: Several years ago, an accident cost me most of my left ring finger and half of my left pinkie. While I can still play to a 10 to 12 handicap, it's hard to maintain a good left-hand grip. Is there anything in the rules that would prohibit me from using a device, such as a strap, to secure the end of the club in my grip? I don't want my golf buddies yelling foul.
– Don Fritz, via e-mail
They can yell because Rule 14-3 states that the use of any artificial devices or unusual equipment during a round means disqualification. However, Exception 1 to Rule 14-3 states that a player is not in breach of this Rule if there is a legitimate medical reason to use the equipment or device, as long as the device was not originally designed as a swing aid (Decision 14- 3/15.5). If you need to use one during an event, you must get approval from the organizers prior to the start of play. No breach, no foul.