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 friends and head off for a round of golf.

It might also be lovely, although some people would say a bit boring, if you were able to keep your ball on the fairway and out of the bunkers and rough all the way to the green but in the real world that does not happen even for the best of professional golfers.

We all hit a few shots, or in a few instances numerous shots, off the fairway and into the rough or into a bunker but the true problem arises when your ball winds up in heavy rough with grass coming up to your knees. Here all too many golfers take several 'hacks' at getting their ball out and the hole becomes a total disaster.

But, anybody who has ever followed the professionals at work will know only too well that this does not necessarily have to be a disaster. So, what then is their secret?

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

If you are a fair distance from the green then your objective should not be to get 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 do this you will have to make use of a wedge or a nine iron, both of which have plenty of weight to deal with the tall grass and sufficient loft to get your ball into the air and clear of the grass speedily.

Also, you must make sure that the blade of your club is open when you are addressing your ball because the grass is going to grab the club head when you take your shot. You then have to minimize the quantity of grass you are swinging through which requires you to make an upright back swing and a hard down swing 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 swiftly and carry it forward enough to get you back on the fairway.

When you are fairly close to the putting surface then this shot will also work very well but you need to take care that the ball does not roll clear through the green. Here therefore you have to aim to hit 2 to 3 inches behind the ball and make sure that your shot includes a complete follow through. This is going to produce a shot which is very similar to that used to get your ball out of sand and will not only fire the ball into the air to clear the heavy rough but will also produce a soft landing on the green and so minimize any forward roll.