chipping off of tees

[maelkoth]

trying to find some consistency in my chipping. during practice it's difficult to have a consistent grass surface from which to chip. would placing the ball on a tee, say 1/8 inch above the grass help me find consistency? also, am i supposed to hit the sweet spot of the club when chipping? i've noticed that i've been hitting the balls on the lower grooves of the club...

[Dad-2-3]

trying to find some consistency in my chipping.

That's the idea, since on the course around the greens you will rarely get a "consistant" lie. Chipping consistancy comes with mucho practice. Practicing off a tee will only mess you up when it comes time to playing on the course IMO.

[mattttt25]

I think chipping off a driving mat will accomplish what you're looking for and hurt you less than the tee. I'd go to the range and go through a bucket from the mats, working on distance and height control. Some say placement of the ball and swing height (full, 3/4, 1/2, etc) is the only thing that separates 30 yards from 100.

[Zeph]

What you need to accomplish with chipping is to hit down on the ball and not try to get under it. By putting it on a tee, getting the club under the ball is much easier, but it is not what your normal lie would be like. Find a patch of grass that resembles what lie you might face on the golf course and practice from it. If anything, I'd recommend practicing off harder surface and more tight lies, as it will punish you if you try to get under the ball.

[SpacklersEdge]

trying to find some consistency in my chipping. during practice it's difficult to have a consistent grass surface from which to chip. would placing the ball on a tee, say 1/8 inch above the grass help me find consistency? also, am i supposed to hit the sweet spot of the club when chipping? i've noticed that i've been hitting the balls on the lower grooves of the club...

I'm going to take a stab in the dark here and guess that one reason the inconsistent grass affects you so much is because it tends to catch your club, causing you to chunk it. You have to remember to accelerate into the ball when chipping. just because you are trying not to hit it hard, doesn't mean you don't accelerate. Practice on the grass, learn to take a shorter backswing and then "pop" the ball.

[.J.Smith]

I'm going to take a stab in the dark here and guess that one reason the inconsistent grass affects you so much is because it tends to catch your club, causing you to chunk it. You have to remember to accelerate into the ball when chipping. just because you are trying not to hit it hard, doesn't mean you don't accelerate. Practice on the grass, learn to take a shorter backswing and then "pop" the ball.

Great advice. Another tip is to try to keep your weight on your foward foot. That seems to be a good key and helps with consistency

[Travtex]

Don't chip off tees, but... I do chip a lot of tees. (Broken tees make good tiny target while standing around waiting for the green to clear practice at Par 3's.)

[GDIB_net]

I think your consistency would be learned and helped if you could develop one shot that could be used in a lot of greenside situations. May I suggest, take your 6 iron, use your putting stroke and grip and learn yourself how to play the shot.You will be amazed at how easy it is and at how many different lies and conditions it will handle. Have fun with it, play the game. Good luck . GDIB

[anthony]

If anything, I'd recommend practicing off harder surface and more tight lies, as it will punish you if you try to get under the ball.

This here. At my range I'll take 5 or so balls and chip them back and forth from a few places. I've been placing balls in the most bare spots and chipping from there. They indeed punish you if you don't hit it right. Then, when you go to a spot with some grass, it's like you hit the lottery for chipping.

Definitely don't chip off a tee though. You can set up a net inside and practice chipping all day. I did that over the winter and it helped a lot with my chip shots.

[chef35ca]

Why would you want a consistant lie?

Throw your balls into the short game area & chip 'em tight. Then do it again. & again. Throw a couple behind a tree or two as well. A couple into divots, line some up along the fringe/first cut border, etc.

The more messed up chips you practice will only add confidence when you're on the course.

& i tend to take a bit of grass with my chips, so a tee would probably royally mess me up.

[Ben]

Why would you want a consistant lie?

There it is! Good point chef35ca. If you miss the green you more than likely are not going to find yourself with a perfect lie. Unless you are playing in the desert or on some perfectly manicured course. Practice in the gnarliest spots you can find! Plus its kinda against proper etitiqutte to tear up a tee unecessarily.

[Zeph]

Also, look at how you use your wrists. If you hinge the wrist just a tiny bit on the backswing, you will have to unhinge them on the downswing, which is another thing you have to time perfectly to hit a good shot. Try setting up and swinging with the exactly same hinge in the wrists, don't hinge them more going back and release going down. Keep the hinge all the way to the finish. Hinging is something you want to do for flop shots where you need more clubhead speed to pop the ball up.

Setting up with 80-90% of the weight on the left foot also helps.