Chipping Practice

[mhenrickson]

So I've been spending some time in my backyard working on my chipping. The yard has about a 35-yard max distance from one end to the other. What I do is grab my 60-wedge and practice balls, and hit balls from one end to the other, or to various targets in the yard. I try to have the ball land on my target with a nice high ball flight.

What I'm hoping to gain by this are:
1) Honing my chipping stroke to gain more consistency with ball striking and distance control. One of my problems chipping is hitting fat or thin, so by practicing I hope to improve there. I'll also pull out my 7-iron and work on low running chips, but those are hard to judge without a green. However, I can better tell when I hit the sweet spot as the ball just jumps off the club.

2) Get my golf fix when I don't have time to make it to the course or the range. Although, I find after chipping around for awhile I really want to take some full swings to send

I was just curious if anyone else does this, and if they have any practice tips to share.

[tws1098]

I do this when at home (currently on college campus) but I have a much bigger yard and hit real balls. I would recommend finding a nice course to practice this at as well. Although the yard can be helpful, the lie is a little unrealistic compared to what it will be when at the course (unless you shave your lawn). After hitting range balls I will easily spend over an hour playing chipping and pitching games with another player or even against myself. I think the more fun you can have practicing, the easier it is to improve and want to keep improving. Good luck, a lot of strokes are left on and around the greens (for most non-scratch players) so it sounds like a good start.

[mhenrickson]

I should correct myself in my original post. I use practice balls when I take full swing practice in the yard, but I do use real balls when working on my chipping. I also try to find spots where the grass isn't as thick to simulate a close lie, but usually the grass is like the rough.

[srjorion]

I have about 70 yds I can hit balls in my yard using. Well, the last 20 yds go into my neighbor's yard, but I don't hit from there only towards it. I frequently take a few balls out and pitch around the yard at different targets. It's not a beautiful yard and the grass grows like a weed most of the year so I have no problem taking divots. I sometimes mow a small area lower than normal to make a fairway type lie and will also find some higher areas and practice hitting from rough type areas.

I live on a corner lot, and last week I was hitting back towards the street from the side of the house and caught one a little too thin with too much power. the ball hit the road, bounced off the curb and shot into the air towards my neighbor's house. It then hit his sloping driveway and then bounced off the roof of his garage. Luckily he wasn't outside to see it and I ran into his yard to grab my ball before he found out. Since then I stopped hitting in that direction in my yard.

[danieldrieberg]

I live in a rural area. A full 165 yard 7 iron can be hit on my lawn.


Suggestion. When practicing chipping try going to a target with different trajectories with the same club. A good tool to have in the bag.

[KD Epic]

Last time I took practice swings in the yard was when I was 13 - We hit over the brick wall and across a busy street into a field behind the house -- dad came home and was pissed about the divots, pissed about the marks on the wall, and pissed we hit all of his competition balls (can't remember what brand even though he probably said it a hundred times in his tirade)

Now I just spend a lot of time after swings at the range.

[laxbballgolf]

I do this all the time. At least, I used to when I lived at my parents' house and had a yard haha. I miss being able to chip around outside when the urge strikes. For now, I have to settle for either driving to a park or chipping balls into the couch off my little chipping mat, haha. I haven't broken anything in the house yet...