Chipping consistency is terrible, HELP!

[CosmosMpower]

Some days it's great and I hit the flag stick a few times a round and sometimes it's a disaster and I have 15 yards to the green and I hit it fat and it only goes 12 to the fringe and doesn't even make it on or I hit it thin and it blasts straight over to the other side. It seems like I have a very big problem with judging distance, I'm often praying that I guessed right and get close to the hole. This is costing me easily 4-5 strokes plus the long putts that turn into 2 and sometimes 3 putts.

Maybe describing my routine will help you guys help me. This is say 5 yards out with a SW letting it hit the green and roll to the pin.

1. Step up to the ball and check my angle/line to the flag including looking at the shape of the green (how it breaks etc).

2. Step back and make a few short practice swings trying to lightly brush the ground using mostly my shoulders and trying to keep the wrists still.

3. Step up and re-align the ball and attempt to re-create the practice swing and hope I don't hit too much ground and have it go nowhere or top it and shoot it over. My ball striking on full iron shots is pretty consistent and reliable. I'm more likely to get it close from 120 out with a 9 iron then 20 yards out with a SW.

[osean79]

I've enjoyed much better chipping consistency after I started to do the following:
1. keep my head down through the shot, not looking up until way after the ball has landed on the green.
2. taking a shorter backswing but accelerating through the chip to a higher finish than the backswing.
3. place the ball lined up to the inside part of my right foot.

Hope that helps, it certainly helped me. =)

[mikelz]

Sounds like you don't have a consistent approach to the shot.
This is a pure guess but the ball is forward in your stance and you move your legs around.

If you're hitting it fat and thin, you are not hitting down on the ball.

• A quick fix is to "stiff arm" it with your left (credit Alex Polli - my first teacher, 1963) .
• There's not much to break down.

Tips and lessons I now also employ.

• Keep weight left and open up a little on a partial shot.
• Opening the feet and keeping the shoulders on line sets up a good finish position when the swing isn't long enough to take you there.
• Above all, I swing wedges vertically. Come into the ball flat from the inside with a sand wedge and the adventure has only begun.

That's enough tech talk.
Try using that setup and experiment with ball positions, early/late/no wrist cock, releasing the club or doing a hit-and-hold, high/low finishes.
Find out what the ball does in response.
That's pretty much how short game learning worked for me.

Happy hunting. It's worth it.

[CosmosMpower]

Thanks guys, it seems like the keeping your head down works for everything not just putting. I definitely have the urge to look up as soon as I hit it and see where it rolled.

I mainly put the ball in the middle of my stance just like most of my irons since it's what I'm most comfortable with. I know it's supposed to be a little further back in the stance like a 9 iron or PW. I know I'm supposed to hit down on it just like all my other shots but I'm just afraid that if I get it up in the air it goes too far.

[kfowler]

Chipping has been the bane of my game as of late so I feel your pain. I've really been trying to practice this. Couple of things that have seemed to help me.

1.) Don't try to scoop the ball but down on it almost like you're trying to compress it.
2.) Use a weak grip. This will make it much harder for you to flip and release your hands.
3.) Use same short swing but different clubs for different lengths (eg: SW short; PW Med; 7i Long)

[bunkerputt]

I'm a pretty good chipper. I holed out 3 times today from the fringe. It wasn't always this way, though. The big breakthrough came for me when I realized that my whole approach was wrong. I used to set up open, keep the weight forward, put the ball back, hit with a descending blow, and all the advice that you hear over and over again until the cows come home. Some people can have success with this type of method, but I think it's more due to their excellent touch and athleticism overcoming poor short-swing mechanics. This method, for me, required incredible timing and wrist action in order to get the contact dead center on the club. Otherwise, my contact was slightly off-center, and even completely off the toe. Off-center contact in the short game is a SERIOUS impediment to improvement. The reason is the ball flies 10 feet instead of 15 and the roll/spin is completely different on just about every shot. This makes it pretty much impossible to develop a feel for distance because you're pretty much trying to hit a moving target with your eyes closed. Your feel will never improve until your contact becomes consistent.

Here are some keys you should try:

1. Set up square or even very slightly closed. This will feel weird at first and will probably feel like you are raking the club across your body.
2. Keep your weight planted on your left foot (90% or so).
3. Use some knee action and lower body pivot to get the clubhead moving on both the back and through strokes. This should feel like you are pressing slightly more weight into your left leg on the through stroke.
4. Keep your wrists loose. What you want is for your forward pivot to generate the clubhead speed and create a little bit of lag. You can't create this lag unless your wrists are loose enough to bend back.
5. Figure out ball position by checking the brush marks you make on the ground. This will probably be about in the middle of your stance.
6. Just let your arms hang naturally and don't try to press them forward at any point in the swing. This will get your hands and arms too active and cause inconsistent contact.

The best way to test all of this out is to chip balls in your living room into a big pillow. Get some impact tape and you will start to feel the difference between solid and slightly off-center contact. Once you can start trusting your contact, I'll bet it won't take more than a couple of days to become incredibly consistent at distance control.

[CosmosMpower]

I'm a pretty good chipper. I holed out 3 times today from the fringe. It wasn't always this way, though. The big breakthrough came for me when I realized that my whole approach was wrong. I used to set up open, keep the weight forward, put the ball back, hit with a descending blow, and all the advice that you hear over and over again until the cows come home. Some people can have success with this type of method, but I think it's more due to their excellent touch and athleticism overcoming poor short-swing mechanics. This method, for me, required incredible timing and wrist action in order to get the contact dead center on the club. Otherwise, my contact was slightly off-center, and even completely off the toe. Off-center contact in the short game is a SERIOUS impediment to improvement. The reason is the ball flies 10 feet instead of 15 and the roll/spin is completely different on just about every shot. This makes it pretty much impossible to develop a feel for distance because you're pretty much trying to hit a moving target with your eyes closed. Your feel will never improve until your contact becomes consistent.

Thanks for the tips, I do feel a lot of my inconsistency is due to having my weight back and not forward. I'll try your approach and see how it goes.

As for chipping golf balls in the living room into a pillow that's a no go. My dachshund LOVES golf balls and once he snags one it's toast and you're not getting it back for a while

[itzzzberny]

spend more time on the range hitting small chips, pitches and bump'n'runs.
unless you have a practice area just for that. in LA we got driving ranges and putting greens but a few places have greens specifically to practice chipping pitching and bump'n'runs.

i've spent more time practicing on the putting greens and it has drasticlly help my putting.

[titaniummd]

Ball position: I have the ball in the back of my stance.
Weight distribution: Weight on the leading leg.
Hand position: Hands forward.
Grip: like I hold my putter.
Weight shift: No weight shift.
Stance: open

I read the green and determine how the ball with roll. I determine how far I am from the fringe.

Take take practice swings to make sure I am hitting the same spot each time (2-3 times).

I look at the target and my mind calculates the backswing. I aim about 2 feet past the fringe so I don't get stuck in the rough.

Commit to the shot and accelerate through - no hesitation.

----
Depending upon amount of roll and carry, I use different clubs:

SW: 1/2 carry, 1/2 roll
9i: 1/3 carry, 2/3 roll
7i: 1/4 carry, 3/4 roll

----
I have started practicing more of the short game : pitches, lobs, sand, putting and trouble shots - over the full swing and my improvement has progress since I started the game.

[gbk56]

I used to be a terribly inconsistant chipper then I changed a few things. Now I am a pretty consistant chipper with almost no thin or fat shots. Here are the things I changed to become better.

1. Keep weight on front foot.
2. Keep ball back in stance.
3. Keep eyes fixed on the back left part of ball.
4. Concentrate on striking the back left part of the ball. When I swing I think of nothing else but striking the back left part of the ball.

Now that I consisitently strike the ball well, I just have to get better at reading greens and distance control. It is actually making this part of the game very interesting and much more enjoyble rather than frustrating.

[ks8829]

I started keeping my right elbow against my body when I chip and my elbow pivots and makes hitting chip shot easy and more consistent. I also tried this same motion on my regular swing and I shot a round of 3 over par.

[JMReynolds]

Making sure you are accelerating through the ball is a key part as well, I had a problem with deceleration on my SW shots and i was hitting everything off the hozzle and it was going just straight out to the right, quite possibly the ugliest thing I've ever seen.

[CosmosMpower]

What drills do you guys use for distance control? My directional control is just fine but I always leave it well short or land it at the hole and have it roll to the other side of the green.

[mikelz]

What drills do you guys use for distance control? My directional control is just fine but I always leave it well short or land it at the hole and have it roll to the other side of the green.

Practicing shots from specific distances helped me a lot.

One I use on the course is the "underhand toss test". From next to your ball, pretend you are tossing your ball underhand to the landing spot you picked out. Once you feel the appropriate level of force, take a practice swing (or not) and hit it.

[Big Padrigo]

One thing that has really helped my distance control is to look at my target when taking my practise swings to get a good feel. I just look and don't think but let my brain tell me how much I need to swing. This works for pretty much all of my short game shots but is particularly effective on chips around the green. In order to make this work you need to incorporate it into your routine. If your fundamentals are reasonable then this will help with the distance control.