Flip the club around or take the drop?

[2bGood]

I saw either Chi Chi Rodriguez or Lee Trevino do a short game clinic where they turn their backs to the target, put the club in their right hand, and chip it while holding the club with the toe faced down. That;s what i do, it makes no sense to hit with the back because there is a possibility of double hitting. I can also just turn the club toe down and hit lefty, but that's harder.

This is waht I do to, you can't hit far, but it doe swork well

[TourSpoon]

I have seen it done both ways, but I usually hit lefty with the toe down. The key is not to get greedy and put it in play and give yourself an unrestricted swing to the hole that is better than the unplayable option. Practice this shot every now and then as it is not that hard and one day you will need it.

[Gordon McTavish]

I carry a left-handed 6-iron for this very situation!

[jamo]

This is waht I do to, you can't hit far, but it doe swork well

Yup, usually in these situations I am not looking to hit it far anyway, just get it out of the way of the tree and possibly back into the fairway.

[NI4NI]

Chi Chi was the master of those shots - remember seeing him do it many times.

For me, the decision would be based on the situation and ball placement. If I was still able to recover with a penalty stroke to make at least par (or at worse bogey), and if there were other obstructions that could potentially come into play (OB, trap, trees, rocks, water,...), then I would treat as un-playable and take relief.

Yesterday, my second shot on the 18th par 4 landed ~ six steps on the right side of the green ~3 inches in front of a maple tree. Given that there were no obstructions, I chopped it out sideways to the fringe (big green), and chipped in for par.

[drglew]

I would play it lefty...oh wait, i'm already lefty!

I've tried these shots switching to righty and flipping the club so the toe is down. Most of the time, i regret that decision afterwards, as i don't practice that shot. Usually, i wish afterward i'd have been smart enough to turn around and take a normal chip/pitch away from the green and back toward the teebox. Yes, it's mentally disheartening to pitch to a longer distance where you're lying, but unless you practice those trick shots, you're usually more likely to put the ball in a position with a "nomal" pitch; where you can then take a normal swing from a decent lie toward the green, even if it's 10-20 yards farther away. If you whiff your trick shot, you've just added a stroke, and you're stuck with the same shot!

As for 2-way clubs, the rule was mainly designed to make those old ambidextrous 2-way chippers illegal. You're free to use the back or any other part of a legal clubhead in your attempt to strike the ball (i still remember Vijay's old top of the putterhead chip-in at the TPC many years ago).

[Uncle Peter]

you do know that counts as two shots if you hit it with the back of your iron right?

He is talking about flipping the club and hitting left, not with the back of the club.

I would definatly flip it. You got a good chance as long as you practiced it before.

[James_Black]

He is talking about flipping the club and hitting left, not with the back of the club.

no he's talking about hitting the back of the club.

Read the post again

[Uncle Peter]

no he's talking about hitting the back of the club.

Well in all fairness, the title threw me off.

Never intentionally tried hitting it with the back of a club before, but I noticed that when I accidentally hit it, I don't even feel the ball, it just moves.

[Where's the Cart Girl?]

I had no idea it would evolve into a rules discussion because although I knew you couldn't have a two-faced club I assumed that once a club is deemed to conform its legal to strike the ball with any part of the clubhead you wish.

The whole double-hit scenario I can't really see. I usually just strike down on the ball to play a low pitch when I hit it with the back of the club so the double hit scenario doesn't really manifest itself. There's no scoop action whatsoever in the swing, its essentially just a punch to drive the ball forward when I'm confident I can put myself in a better spot than taking the drop.

I like using the back of the club because it looks more natural over the ball (honestly more important than anything else, i feel) and because you still have the surface area of the entire face length, as opposed to up-ending it and limiting the surface area to the toe height of the club.

My clubs aren't the best for this because they do have two small cavities on the back but say the MP-67...

http://thegolfshot.com/osc/images/miz_mp67big.jpg

I bet if you put one of those in a lefty's hand and let him swing it backward he could hit the ball well enough to get the point across.

[colin007]

is a shank considered a double hit? a lot of times, you are hitting the ball in two locations, the hosel and the very end of the heel.

[James_Black]

is a shank considered a double hit? a lot of times, you are hitting the ball in two locations, the hosel and the very end of the heel.

not really.

Your hitting them at the same time. I could be wrong though, only the PGA/European tour players will have high-speed camera's looking for a double hit so you'd get away with it.

[jonnythan]

as long as it conforms with rule 4-1.

I don't see it your way. In fact, I am quite confident you are completely wrong.

Any club that conforms to the rules - that includes cavity backs, muscle backs, hybrids, whatever - can explicitly be hit using any part of the clubhead you want. The rules of golf make that clear. They do not state that you may hit with any part of a conforming clubhead as long as that part conforms to the "face" requirements. It says that a conforming club has a certain type of face, and then goes on to say that you can hit with the back of the clubhead as well.