Butch Harmon on Hitting Irons Perched on Short Rough (Video)

A quick note about GC's golf schedule today: I did a post with a complete schedule yesterday. If you ignore the 6am listing for Golf Central and then move all the other times up a half-hour (for example, the 7am Senior OPEN to 6:30am), everything is in the same order.

Here's another Golf Digest video from Butch Harmon on something you don't hear much about -- how to hit an iron shot when you got a lucky lie in short rough. Your technique has to change just a bit.

Watch this video on The Scene.

The simple summary here is that you sweep the ball off the grass with your iron, just as you sweep the ball off a tee with your driver. But it's not exactly the same.

With an iron, your stance is considerably narrower than it is with a driver. All things being equal, it's more natural to hit down on the ball with an iron. (Yeah, I know many of you struggle with hitting down. But that's because you exaggerate your leg movements, and it causes you to hit the ball thin or fat. You probably aren't hitting your driver well either, are you? It's the same problem.)

I've done a couple of posts that can help you get better at keeping your height during impact, which is what you need to do when you use Butch's advice.

• This first post has the basketball drill, which teaches you to create leg drive without excessive up-and-down movement.
• The second post has an ankle rolling drill, which teaches you to do the same thing but with a slightly different technique.

Both of them will teach you to "pick the ball" while making solid contact. If you move the ball slightly back in your stance you'll hit down more solidly on the ball, but if you move the ball slightly forward you'll be able to sweep the ball cleanly without hitting it thin. I recommend both because you may find that one of them is easier for you to use. They're just different mental approaches for the same technique.

Give them both a try. One or the other should help you develop that sweeping motion that Butch wants you to use when you get a nice lie in the rough.