Practicing chipping in the back yard

[vmsea]

How is this done? how do you prevent blading/skulling and thus ending up with a ball on your windshield / neighbour's fence?

I want to try it but i'm worried.. putting up a massive net for 'chipping' seems excessive.

i'm not talking about those with a 2 acre back yard .. :)

[montru]

A lot of people place a bucket in the middle of their lawn and try and chip balls into it, it gives you a good eye for choosing a target on the green to land your ball on etc so when you do go to the range chipping area you have the target part of you chipping down and you then concentrate on which club will roll out more etc.

Hope that helps.

[vmsea]

yah. but what if you miss hit one and it hits your neighbour's wall, or your own windows?

i guess the question is. how do people mitigate risk?
i COULD hit it toward the street. but that risks hitting parked cars.

[Able Hands]

My whole yard is about 1/3 acre so I strictly use 60* SW or PW (only wedges I currently own) in the back yard only. And I only ever concentrate on VERY short shots, from 3-foot to 20 foot carry. That way if I hit it thin I'm only gonna carry 40 yards or so MAX. I did purchase some mushy practice balls for my son to play with, I forget the brand but they fly true. If you slice it, it slices etc. I can almost hit a full 60* with those balls, but unfortunately if I flush it I will fly the yard. I did play around one night with them hitting over the house front to back. Scared the CRAP out of my son when a ball hit him in the head!! Glad it was a mush ball, or he would have a mushy head.

[srjorion]

I have a big yard on a corner lot and have about 50 yds. of grass to play with. I started getting a little too aggressive with my practice one day while hitting back towards the street. The ball barely made the street, but it wound up bouncing very high right towards my neighbor's driveway. It hit his driveway and then made yet another huge bounce. My neighbor has an old truck he polishes and washes very frequently and I was very worried my ball was going to hit it. The ball wound up hitting the roof of his garage, bouncing a couple of times before landing in his yard. I ran over quickly, retrieved my ball, and got out of there.

Since then I've toned it down some. I don't aim in any direction where if I hit it too hard or blade it that it will hit something.

[Shripe]

I've ordered a set of Floppys for some indoor/outdoor chipping. Apparently they tend to react somewhat true to a golf ball, but I definitely don't have the kind of yard to risk hitting real golf balls around in, so I"ll see how they work. They'll arrive on Friday.

[Bama Golf]

  montru said:

A lot of people place a bucket in the middle of their lawn and try and chip balls into it, it gives you a good eye for choosing a target on the green to land your ball on etc so when you do go to the range chipping area you have the target part of you chipping down and you then concentrate on which club will roll out more etc.

I agree with this. Start with very short chips/pitch shots then work your way up to longer shots when your consistency and confidence improve.

[martytilma]

Are you chipping or pitching? I'm not sure how you chip, but with chips I wouldn't be concerned about sculling them into the neighbors house. Pitching on the other hand is a different story. When you are chipping you shouldn't be swinging that hard. Most of the time it should be about as hard as putting but with a wedge. That's just me though!

[montru]

  vmsea said:

yah. but what if you miss hit one and it hits your neighbour's wall, or your own windows?

Really, if you are just chipping you shouldn't be hitting the ball that hard, and the ball shouldn't be going more than about three or four feet off the ground.

I am quite spoilt really, during the day I get a 5 gallon bucket half filled with water and place it in my pool and then try and chip it in (I use floater balls) and because the bucket is moving around the pool no two shots are the same, then, in the evening about an hour before dark I step out onto the 10th fairway behind my house and practice from 100yds in.

[vmsea]

  montru said:

I am quite spoilt really, during the day I get a 5 gallon bucket half filled with water and place it in my pool and then try and chip it in (I use floater balls) and because the bucket is moving around the pool no two shots are the same, then, in the evening about an hour before dark I step out onto the 10th fairway behind my house and practice from 100yds in.

so you have a pool, AND you live right by a golf course. hahaha spoiled is correct! that and very fortunate! well done! :)

[James_Black]

I have 2 ball returners, one on either side of my garden that I chip at.

I've got nice neighbours so they don't mind throwing over a few if I hit them into their garden.

[SpoiledRotten]

I would practice in my yard but don't want all of the divots in my turf. I'll dig up someone else's grass, maybe some that my tax money is paying for.

[MarkM]

My front yard is only about 30 yards across but i practice chipping across it no problem. As what was mentioned about if you are just chipping it shouldn't be a problem, pitching on the other hand could get scarry. The last couple of weeks my 7 year old daughter and a couple other of the neighbor kids have had fun with me doing chipping contests. I use regular balls but make the kids use practice wiffle balls for safety. We see who can be the first to chip a ball into a buckett filled with water. I bought a bag of candy bars and the "winner" gets a treat. The kids just love it and I have had fun practicing with them. Last night two of the neighbor kids showed up right at dark wanting to "play golf" so we turned the poarch light on and chipped for a while in the dark.

Mark

Mark

[SpoiledRotten]

Cool idea, Mark!

[Able Hands]

That is an awesome idea Mark

[acegolfer]

I have a small back yard. It's about 15 yds long and it slopes down to a lake. So I don't have to worry about hitting to my neighbors.

I practice 3-10 yd chipping from a golf mat using real balls. For longer shots, I use plastic balls. I found if I practice chip shots before a round, my full shots tend to be more solid.