How do you chip out of greenside rough? I’ve been trying to make a video of this for years, but it’s hard to do. You need different depths of rough to present all the possibilities and their solutions. Every time I go to the practice green at my range, they have mowed the grass to an even (low) height, so what I wanted to show was not possible.

So, I’m going to describe what to do in the various situations and hope your imagination is good enough to fill in the blanks.

The objective here is to get the ball on the green. Close to the hole comes with practice, but just getting the ball on the green so you can start putting is a win in each case.

1. Ball resting on the tips of stiff grass. This is the easiest one. Take out your 8-iron and hit the ball with your putting stroke. Just be careful not to brush the grass at any time because that could allow the ball to sink down in the grass.

2. Ball suspended in grass—the ball is in the grass but not in contact with the ground. The important thing here is to find out where the bottom of the ball is so you don’t either blade the ball or leave the ball in the grass by hitting too far underneath it.

Near the ball, but not close enough to disturb it, stick your index finger straight down into the grass and touch the ground with your fingertip. You will sense right away how far down the bottom of the ball is.

Hit the ball out of the grass with a sand wedge using your standard chipping stroke.

3. Ball resting on the ground in deep grass. This is a sure-fire shot if you know how to hit it. Practice is necessary before you try it on the course.

Take out your highest-lofted wedge. A 60-degree wedge is perfect for this shot. Using a very wristy stroke that feels like you are almost swinging the clubhead straight up and straight back down, attempt to thump the sole of the club on the ground just behind the ball. Do not attempt to hit the ball. The momentum of the stroke will make the club slide forward underneath the ball and pop it out.

Three sticky situations, now you know how to hit to get out of them.