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It is a marvelous feeling to jump into your own Club Car golf cart or one of the club's cheap golf carts (such as their Bag Boy golf carts) with your friend and family and drive out onto the golf course for a round.

It might also be nice, if a little boring, if you were able to keep your golf on the fairway and out of the rough and bunkers all the way to the green but in the real world that simply does not happen even for the very best of professional golfers.

We all hit the odd shot, or in several cases many shots, off the fairway and into a bunker or the rough but the real problem arises when your ball winds up in heavy rough with grass clear up to your knees. Here far too many golfers take several 'hacks' at getting their ball out and the hole turns into a complete catastrophe.

However, anybody who has ever watched the professionals at work will know that this does not necessarily have to be a disaster. So, what then is their secret to success?

There are 2 secrets and the first applies when you are in the deep rough but still some way from the green and the second applies whenever the ball is buried but is relatively close to the putting green.

If you are still a considerable distance from the flag then your aim should not be to gain distance from your shot but should just be to get your ball out of the rough and onto the fairway so that you are then in a good position to get yourself onto the green.

To achieve this you are going to have to use a wedge or a nine iron, both of which have enough weight to deal with the long grass and sufficient loft to get the ball up into the air and clear of the grass speedily.

Also, you must make sure that the club blade is open when you address your ball because the grass is going to grab the club head when you make your shot. You then need to minimize the quantity of grass you are swinging through which requires you to make a very upright back swing and a strong down swing that is controlled with a firm left hand. This particular shot will not get you a great deal of distance however it will pop your ball up into the air quickly and take it forward sufficiently to get you back onto the fairway.

When you are close to the putting green then this shot will also work exceedingly well but you need to take care to ensure that your ball does not roll right through the green. In this instance therefore you have to aim to hit two or three inches behind the ball and ensure that your shot has a full follow through. This produces a shot very similar to that which you would use to get your ball out of sand and will not only shoot your ball up into the air to clear the heavy rough but will also produce a soft landing on the green and thus minimize any forward roll.