Pitch and chips and wedges?

[divottool]

OK......I'll bite! What is the rule of twelve?

[Zeph]

I primarily use 7i-PW and three wedges for chipping and pitching. Having different clubs give a great variety in shots I can perform. On the fringe or just outside the green I like the 7i or 8i. Just nudge it onto the green and let it feed to the flag. Much easier than trying to get it into the air.

[rckwd]

  divottool said:

OK......I'll bite! What is the rule of twelve?

Go back a few post and it is explained by picrig

[uuassistant2009]

one thing i have noticed is a problem for most amateur players is the unwillingness to use the putter more from just off the green. Now this is not a good idea if you are in some deep rough right off the edge of the green but from shorter grass where the lie is rather tight is always better than trying to hit your 60.

I only tend to use my lob(58) wedge when i have something between me and the whole (ie. bunker, water, tree, hill, etc). I usually use my PW to chip. if i'm on the fringe there is no question i'm grabbing the putter.

If you use your putter more often from difficult tight lies you will find that your par putts will become a lot more manageable. Keep one thing in mind when you miss a green in regulation. My next shot needs to be on the green in order to have a putt for par. So, no matter where you miss the green at. Do whatever it takes to get on the green. It's easier to make a putt than it is to chip it in, especially if you are chipping for the 2nd time on that hole.

good luck and experiment on the putting green with some different types of shots

[pjsnyc]

  picrig said:

For true chip shots (shots where there is no forced carry over a bunker, water, etc, and where you can have more roll than carry), I like to use the

Thanks! I'll have to try that some time.

One other tip I'd like to throw in here - sometimes when I'm left with a fast downhill chip, I putt with the blade of my 54* wedge. It comes off the head a little more dead than with a putter or hybrid/wood and trickles nicely. Definitely saved me a good few up and downs...for bogey ;)

[Brakkus]

  uuassistant2009 said:

one thing i have noticed is a problem for most amateur players is the unwillingness to use the putter more from just off the green. Now this is not a good idea if you are in some deep rough right off the edge of the green but from shorter grass where the lie is rather tight is always better than trying to hit your 60.

I found this to be true in most cases.If I'm on the fringe the grass in most cases is very tight so I putt.Sometimes it's slightly fluffy I use nothing more than a PW.My wilson fatshaft is a heavy club so some use 7 iron here,if I did I would be in the next time zone.

Otherwise I grab the 52 because I'm comfortable with it.I use a pitching action,but if I use a PW then I use my putting action,to offset the heaviness making it controllable. I think on my next set of irons I want to trade the power of the fatshafts for something with more feel.

[Fourputt]

  mkrolewski said:

You might want to look at Dave Pelz "Short Game Bible".

How is using one club more complicated than using several clubs? That doesn't compute.

Using one club is actually quite simple. Just like putting, you learn how to FEEL the shot needed. Pelz method is too mechanical.... I can't play that way... I have to feel the shot, not build it from a formula.

[rckwd]

  Fourputt said:

How is using one club more complicated than using several clubs? That doesn't compute.

I am like you, I have to have a feel for what I am doing. Some people just arent "feel" players. I relate it to shooting pool for people like us, you have to have that "touch".

[Zeph]

So you can't feel the shot by trying to do the same with different clubs? I have 14 clubs in my bag and use whichever is suited best for the shot. If I'm a few feet from the green on fringe or fairway I don't putt. I depends on the height of the grass and hole position, but I don't want to roll on the fairway, the variables are making it much harder. By using a high lofted iron I can carry it onto the green, or hop it once on the fairway then feed to the flag. I putt on the green where I know the speed, putting on the fairway makes it harder to get the speed right. A putting stroke with an iron have a ton of feel and once you get it down it's a great shot to play. I was practicing this once from 6 yards from the hole in some semi rough outside the green. Using my 8 iron I chipped in three balls in a row. The rest of the shots were so close I could usually tap in the putt.

[jambalaya]

I have tried both ways and fall into the one club category 90% of the time. The bit about figuring roll depending on club used just doesn't work for me. I think that is true for a lot of feel players of which I am one. I will use a putter off the green for chipping whenever possible.

[Fourputt]

  Zeph said:

If I'm a few feet from the green on fringe or fairway I don't putt.

And I'm just the opposite... I will almost always putt if I can. There are fewer variables with the putter than with any other club in my bag. I never have to worry about snapping a little bit too much spin, or not quite enough. And I'll never bounce the ball in the fairway or fringe if it can be avoided... always try to carry onto the putting surface. I can never tell what might happen with a fairway bounce.

But a putt is predictable, even when I have to roll it through 7 or 8 feet of fairway. I'll even consider it if the ball is in the edge of the rough and sitting up. My only eagle so far this year came from using a putter out of the light rough.

[Zeph]

  Fourputt said:

And I'm just the opposite... I will almost always putt if I can. There are fewer variables with the putter than with any other club in my bag. I never have to worry about snapping a little bit too much spin, or not quite enough.

I apply a putting stroke to my 7i, don't get any spin on the ball. Using a putting stroke also eliminates the chance of snapping it. I feel I have more control by not rolling it through the higher grass where I don't know how the ball will react.

[soloredd]

  Zeph said:

I apply a putting stroke to my 7i, don't get any spin on the ball. Using a putting stroke also eliminates the chance of snapping it. I feel I have more control by not rolling it through the higher grass where I don't know how the ball will react.

Same here. But, I don't know any other way - I was taught this way when I was young. Now that I am taking the game seriously, I find my 7i invaluable around the green. Easy to control and spin is minimal if any.

[Paddymaster]

My personal belief is that chipping is a lot of personal feel. Technique makes chipping easier to feel, but feel for you distance and feel for your trajectory is key. This feel is built with confidence, so I believe go ahead and work with what's comfortable, so you develop that "feel". After you have confidence with one club, move on to multiple clubs and get a bit more creative. There's no one way to play golf

[Fourputt]

  Zeph said:

I apply a putting stroke to my 7i, don't get any spin on the ball. Using a putting stroke also eliminates the chance of snapping it. I feel I have more control by not rolling it through the higher grass where I don't know how the ball will react.

There are as many ways to play this shot as there are clubs in your bag... this thread proves it.

There is an old quote by someone who said that given the choice he'd always take the putter. I used to think like you do, but I've changed my philosophy. Now I use the putter unless there is some obvious defect or obstruction between my ball and the green that I need to lift the ball over. It isn't that I can't or won't play those other shots, I just find less variability with the putter. Especially if I'm shortsided and far enough off the green so that can't carry the ball to the putting surface anyway, then my best shot at getting close to the hole is to putt the ball. I've found that I hit some of my best "chips" with my putter.