It was a good question I got in my recent Golf IQ mailbag.

Assuming normal-ish rough, missing the fairway is less of a penalty the further away you are from the green. It's also less of a penalty for higher handicaps.

But all things equal, assuming the rough is a 20 yard penalty is a good rule of thumb. So, a drive that goes 250 yards into the rough is the same as one that goes 230 yards into the fairway. If your drive goes 260 yards into the rough, you're coming out ahead.

The chart below from a recent Game Plan video that unpacks it in some more detail.