chipping/pitching/half wedge shots

[andre112]

i'm a bit confused

what's the difference?

when and where to use them?

[tiger_who]

chipping is shots when you are about 10m off the green pitching falls more under half wedge shots pitching is when you are about 20+m out but are to close for a full swing. well thats how i play them

[Shindig]

i'm a bit confused

Half Wedge is exactly what it sounds like: a shot with a wedge where you make a partial swing, but are still essentially doing an abbreviated full swing.

People define pitch and chip differently. Some say a chip is a short game shot that rolls more than it flies, with the opposite being a pitch. Some people use the terms interchangeably. I prefer Stan Utley's definitions. A chip shot is when you reduce the loft of the club and hit the ball first. A pitch uses the bounce to hit the ground and the ball. But the techniques are more or less similar, so making a distinction isn't all that important. Use these for your short game shots. Hitting a chip from 200 yards in the fairway is either foolish or showing off, most likely the former.

[TGMTeacher]

i'm a bit confused

A chip is usually from the greenside and rolls further than it is airborne.

A pitch is airborne further than it rolls. A half wedge is exactly that, a wedge using half a swing and you use it depending on how far you hit it.

[andre112]

my idea of half wedge shot was 7:30 swing.
i don't really see the difference between 7:30 wedge and a pitch if i use a 54 or 58 wedge

[powerfade]

The chip is the little shot played from a feet to a few yards off the green. As others posted, the club is delofted (because your hands are ahead of the ball at address and impact), so this shot will run out a little bit. You can get creative and setup like a chip, open up a lofted wedge, play it in the center, and plop one on the green to a tight pin.

The pitch shot is usually one where the backswing goes back far enough to get the shaft parallel to the ground. The max follow through is when the shaft reaches vertical...give or take a little. My standard pitch with a 56* SW is 25 yards (YMMV).

The half wedge is the 7:30 shot. It has a longer follow through...preferabably to where your hands/arms finish above your head with the shaft parallel to the ground.

This 7:30 swing really does fly wedges half the distance of the full wedge (10:30 swing). It's one of the toughest shots in golf IMO requiring commitment and discipline to pull it off.

To go one step further, the 3/4 wedge is the one where your left arn is parallel to the ground on the backswing (9:00).