Fairway chipping

[slinkee]

I seem to struggle with this as it's hard for me to make pure contact with the ball. When it's in the rough, no problem, but on the fairway, I tend to hit an inch or so behind the ball and skull it across the green, or give it a little 2 yard nudge and have to try it again.

Any recommended drills I can do in my back yard or living room that could help with better ball striking in the short grass of the fairway? It seems it's just less forgiving.

Or perhaps, should I not be using a pitching wedge from ~15-20 yards out?

[Crafty]

When chipping form the fairway, you want to make sure that you are "pinching" the ball off the ground. If the ball is too far forward, it will cause you to try to scoop the ball.Try moving the ball off your back foot so that it is tougher to hit a fat shot.

Hitting a less lofted club could also be a good solution to the problem. However, you still have to play it the same way with the ball back in your stance.

[TourSpoon]

The pitching wedge is fine for this shot. Make sure to put your weight 70/30 front leg/back leg and let your wristbone lead through impact. Your wrists need to remain stable with no flipping. While you legs are more stable than usual you still need just a little motion in the hips back and through. This motion helps me gauge the shot.

[unscathed]

That's a great question. I want to know something about fairway pitching/chipping - I see this all the time with the pros where it looks like they bladed their shot, but it ends up biting like a rabid dog on the green and spins back towards the pin. I've pulled it off a couple times, but I have no idea how I did it. Answers? (sorry if I've just HJ'd your thread...)

[Guest]

A few suggestions.
Choke down a bit, this brings the club in closer to you and raises the heel of club off the ground...for better control. Use a grip closer to your putting grip for better feel. Open your stance, weight favors target side and STAYS there...no shift. Be sure to accelerate through the ball. Hands lead the clubhead. Some like to vary club selection, some use primarily one club...experiment. Get off the range and practice around the green more.

Have fun.

[Bignose]

Hitting a less lofted club could also be a good solution to the problem. However, you still have to play it the same way with the ball back in your stance.

Just to expand on this some, if there is fairway all the way up to the green, there is nothing wrong with trying a bump-n-run with something like a hybrid or fairway wood. The nice thing about those clubs is that they won't dig anything like an iron or wedge will, so even if you do him them a little fat, the club will skip off the ground and still hit the ball okay. Okay as in not great, but probably still on the green.

[Steaksauce]

You may want to take a bunch of practice swings right behind the ball to see were the club head bottoms out and play the ball just behind that. Also if you watch the pros, they take the most practice swings from 100 yards and in so they can really feel the distance.

[JaY_B]

A few suggestions.

Exactly what I was going to say, ^^ good advice