I need chipping help...

I haven't been chipping well at all lately. I am a new golfer and I just haven't been instructed at all on chipping. The same goes for 3/4 or less swings. I played at a course in the outer banks, north carolina area. I shot a 120 and it was pretty much completely because of my chipping. I don't think I 3 putted once... at least I can't remember doing so.

Most of the time I hit the ball really low and it flied across the green. Feels like I am coming over the top. I seem to have trouble getting the ball in the air. I use a PW for chipping, because I can't hit my SW too well right now.

Any tips for chipping or less than full swings would be great.

Thanks

I like the area you're playing !!..must be near Manteo..

anyway, as for chipping... it's about all I can do well, besides putt. I'm no Pro, nor am I in anyway qualified to teach golf, however, I will suggest this:
get a wedge(sand/lob..don't matter)...and practice the 3oclock-12 oclock swing,WITHOUT MOVING..all arms at first.the balls will go,with a 64*, about 15-20 yards ...you'll notice that as you do this exercise, your swing becomes smoother with time, which allows you to add upper-body movement as you progress(for longer shots). the 3-12 method also teaches distance, as @ ball will end up close to one another. after you'ver got that "down", then you can tweek this swing. I then started trying to chip into baskets, starting close, working out to about 80 yds.
HTH

It sounds like you might be trying to "help" the ball into the air. By trying to scoop it, you're most likely catching the middle of the ball on the "up" half of your swing, wich results in a low liner that has no chance of stopping.

If you're just starting out, the PW is a good choice for the most simple chip shots. Think about it like you're hitting a putt: 1) low takeaway, 2) Dictate the weight of the shot with the length of your backswing. Shorter shots get less, longer shots get more. 3)Always accelerate through the ball (which fits with the backswing thing) 4) Follow through as if you've just hit a putt; natural (as in, don't actively try to stop the clubhead), but not really a full follow through as if you've just made a full swing.

A common mistake is to try and fly the ball to the hole and get it to stop immediately. A better strategy (imo) is to pick a spot where you're confident you can land the ball, hit it there, then think about it as if it's a putt after that (i.e. play some break).

Once you get that down, try expirementing with different lofted clubs. Higher loft= less roll out, lower loft = more roll.

Play the ball a little bit back of the center of your stance. Stance just a little bit open (left foot back an inch or 2 from the target line, whatever seems comfortable to you). Weight needs to be on the left side (very important to help avoid chunking the shot). Don't shift your weight just use the arms and shoulders to make the stroke. Keep your head down (eye on the ball) until after contact. That's as much as I can offer from here... I'd have to see your setup and stroke to say more, but those are the basic chipping fundamentals.

These suggestions are all for a right handed player... for a lefty, just reverse them...

Heres a couple of basic pointers

1) if you have alot of green infront of you play the ball to the back of your stance to hit a low chip and the ball will roll more

2) if you have a ton of green to work with before the pin, try using a 7 iron and hit it very softly, it will roll very nicely towards the hole

3) if you have a long chip, try visualize a small circle on where you want the ball to Land and then it will roll from there

4) if you need to get over something, try a Flop Shot by opening your stance and the clubface, (or use a high lofted wedge)


hope these help.

As Confucius say, man who pick up head, look at bad shot. Keep the head down and just swing your normal swing through the ball. Don't try to push the club through the ball (having just had a chipping lesson yesterday). Also, when you make your backswing, do it at about half or even a third of your normal speed. And, make sure you follow through at least as far as you went back.

@Dent: I beg to differ about the flop shot... I believe it's actually harder to execute than a normal pitch or chip, from my experience (I tend to chunk or top it)....but if you can pull it off, kudo's.

oh yes its definatly harder to pull off, you can really only pull it off if your in the long stuff, but if you can, its a great reward if you do it right.

Here is what I know about a chip shot that works extremely well for me.

1. place your feet 4 inches apart (narrow stance) and keep your left foot's toe back about 3-4 inches from the right foot's toe. keep your feet square to the intended path so your hips aligned there as well. This is not called an open stance. It's one where you position your left foot back (but square) and out of the way so you can turn into the shot much easier. Should you turn your right foot open towards the target, your hips will point left as well resulting in a dis-connection between the arms and body during the forward part of the swing. This could easily result in hozzle contact and shanking the shot.

2. Move your feet closer to the ball (within 12 inches from the left toe) so your arms are bent. If you're too far behind the ball and your arms are straight, you'll have less control and more tendency to hit the ground behind the ball. If the arms are straight, you'll also tend to get the wrists involved in the chip swing, and that is not what you want to do with this type of shot.

3. I know that a lot of players say to position the ball back in their stance and that is correct for some, But with this highly successful chipping technique that I'm describing here, you'll want to position your feet so that the ball is in the middle, between your feet.

4. Because your arms are bent, choke down on the shaft's grip a little and with the club head right behind the ball, slide your hands forward a few inches so that the club shaft and your left arm are co-linear or in a straight line with your left forearm to your left elbow joint. If you look down at your hands, they should look like they're covering your left knee.

5. A chip shot is a one lever swing. Meaning that you don't want the club head to ever break either going back or forward in the swing. There is minimal body movement in the back stroke, but when you come through to the forward stroke you want to allow your body/torso to rotate through to avoid the dreaded wrist flip. Do not let your wrists to break down through any part of your swing.

6. You want your knees bent a little to allow for the necessary leg restriction to allow body/torso rotation. It's not necessary to put most of your weight or lean too much on your left side. Just a little, as placing your club shaft forward will do this automatically and make your shot feel comfortable.

7. Because the club head is leaning forward already and somewhat de-lofted, don't make any attempt to hit down or chop down on the ball. Again, a one lever swing/sweep with no wrist action at all. Let the torso (body) drive the latter half (forward portion) of the swing.

8. You want to bump the ball onto the green and let it roll to your target. The travel distance of your ball in determinant on one of two things.

a- If you use a single club for many of your chip shots such as a PW, the amount of distance the ball carries is determined by the amount of back stroke. If you want a short chip, you may only want to take the stroke back six inches. For a longer distance, 12 inches and so on. If you consider the ball to be 6:00 o'clock, abandon the chip shot if you go past 8:00 o'clock on the back swing and consider a two lever pitch shot instead.

b- You can use different clubs (PW, 9I, 8I, etc.) with the same exact stroke to control ball distance. The lower the club and loft, the more distance the ball will roll, even though the ball lands in the same spot on the green.

8. Irregardless of how far the length of the back stroke, you want want the forward stroke to be equidistant. This ensures you accelerate through the ball. Again, maintain the angular relationship between the forearms and the shaft and don't allow the wrists to flip and break down.

I hope this helps,

Mark

picture keeping a backwards y using your arms as the top part and the shaft as the bottom

hope it helps

Watch this video, it might help...

http://www.scoregolf.com/articles/x-...ster-video.cfm

It's interesting to me that most of us actually pitch the ball but usually call it a chip. A chip is really like a putt usually from the collar of the green. If you're in gnarly rough forget about chipping. You will need to pitch the ball.

I've had terrible bouts of the chipping yips in the past. What helped me through it was not mechanical technique, although this is very important at the start, but for me I was becoming so tense I found myself gripping the club very tightly because of anxiety so I loosened up! As soon as I made my hands soft, made as lighter grip as possible and made a smooth stroke, my chipping became very good again. It was a very simple remedy for me, it may work for you too?

I picked up a tip about a year ago that's really improved my distance control. I think it was on one of those HDNET golf instruction shows.

You use a different club based on the ratio between your ball position to 1 pace onto the green and 1 pace onto the green to the hole.
If the ratio is 1:1, use a PW
If the ratio is 1:2, use a 9I
If the ratio is 1:3, use an 8I
If the ratio is 1:4, use a 7I
If the ratio is 1:5, use a 6I.

In other words, pace off the distance from your ball to 1 pace onto the green. That spot is your landing spot. Then pace off the distance from that spot to the hole. If the distance from your ball to 1 pace on is 10 feet and the distance from that spot to the hole is 20 feet, you'd use a 9I. Obviously, on a downslope shot (or upslope shot), you have to take that into consideration and add or subtract a club (or more).

It is a pretty straight forward shot, but can make a big difference to your confidence and most importantly your score.

Play the ball of the back foot. Aim your body slightly left of the target. Your weight should be on the front foot and should remain there throughout the shot. Once you are in the correct set up position, all you really need to do is rock the shoulders and feel that you are squeezing the ball into the turf. Keeping the weight on your front foot will promote the downward strike that you are looking for.
If you need anymore help feel free to e-mail me at: golf@wholovesgolf.com