Changing Clubs When Chipping?

[Leftygolfer]

I'll only hit the really high shot if there is no other way I have a chance of gettting it close. I can hit it fine but it is so hard to judge exactly how far it will go. I've practiced the hell out of the flop shot and for me, it takes a bit of luck to get it close. It just isn't easy to judge.

[Fourputt]

One of the advantages of chipping with a lower lofted club like a 7I or 8I is that you greatly reduce the chances of skulling the ball over the green. The more upright face gives you a bit more room for error, and you don't swing as hard so even if you do catch it a bit thin, the ball won't go as far past the hole. Using a 56° or 60° exclusively forces you to swing harder, and exaggerates your misses. I've found through 25 years of playing halfway decent golf that when I can chip with an 8I or 9I my miss hits are less punishing and I hole out a higher percentage of my chips.

Maybe not for everyone, but just tossing it out for consideration.

[CassinoNorth]

As everyone said there's no real one size fits all solution for chipping.


Anywhere from 20 yards in I'm actually pretty inconsistent with my 60°...either leaving it way short or flying it over the green. Give me a 52° in my hands and I'll run it right up to the hole.

If I'm sitting a couple yards in the grass off the green, 8i without fail or any fringe or better and putter it is (free putts too )

[bmartin461]

Wow! I did not think I would get so many helpful replies. I think this forum rocks.

I am playing this afternoon so I will try some of the advice I have read out and see how it goes.

Thanks all!

[glock35ipsc]

One of the advantages of chipping with a lower lofted club like a 7I or 8I is that you greatly reduce the chances of skulling the ball over the green.

As much as I would like to become a good wedge player, reality tells me this is the most realistic case for me for right now. I'm still going to continue to practice the snot out of my wedges, but I play much safer right now when using a 7I around the greens.

[allin]

my club really depends on the lie. If it really tight lie and flag is pretty far away ill use somethin like a 9 iron. If its somewhat tight lie but dont have to far to go, i'll grab my sandwedge. And if I have a pretty fluffly lie when i know can easily get under the ball, I'll whip out my 60* lob wedge.

This is pretty close to how I do it. I tend grab the PW, but on chips out of lies that are very thin, thick, or from distances or with green slopes that call for it I will switch to everything from a 9iron to LW. My only real odddity is that I rarely use the putter if I am more than a few inches off the green or the hole is very close to my position. Almost everyone I play with choose's their putter much more often than I do, if that is a reasonable option.

[canadianpro]

Hey Guys

Many times it doesn't matter...if you can perfect a motion like this, you could use a shovel

[Mrd19abhs]

I aswell use all my wedges depending on my lie. I used to chip exclusively with my LW until I got a new pw and sw. Now 60-70% of my chips are with my pw. I can hit a bum and run to flag or fly it half way and let it run out. I then use my lw if I need to get ball up or if im in thick rough. Hardly ever do I use my sw since I can hit different shots with those two wedges but I hardly ever putt the ball from the fairway, my course's fringe doesnt merge well with the greens alot of the time. It has a little lip and if you putt off it it can send the ball off line really quick.

[boogielicious]

Another consideration is lie angle, uphill and downhill. I usually use a 54 wedge for chipping when there is not a lot of green to work with. But if I have an uphill lie to an elevated green, my stance would increase the loft of my club and I would risk hitting under the ball or chipping short. So I will change, for example, to a 9 iron and chip like it was my 54 on the flat.

Same goes for downhill lies. I switch to my 58 to make it like my 54. I therefore only have one stroke to distance thought to use, which simplifies it for me. I just switch clubs to make the loft equal the 54.

With lots of green, the same thing applies. I usually use my 9, but adjust the same way, down to 7 or up to 50W, etc.

[596]

[QUOTE=canadianpro;558308]Hey Guys

"Many times it doesn't matter...if you can perfect a motion like this, you could use a shovel"

Wow...that would consistant! Same stroke each time, easy to return the club head back to the ball each time to the same place. Either just change the loft or vary the amount of backswing to vary distance.

[JetFan1983]

Optimal strategy is probably being proficient with multiple clubs around the greens. That said, I don't practice/play all that often, so I still use just one club: my 56. Right now that's the club I feel by far the most comfortable using, so when I'm playing, I just stick to the comfort zone.

This thread reminds me to force myself to start using other clubs. The first thing I've noticed is that the ball comes off hotter with my Pings when compared to the 56.

[normdamarine]

I think what mistake most amateurs make is not having the imagination to use almost any club as a chipper! I will give you an example, I was playing in a tournament where the greens were extremely grainy. For a shot off the green I would normally use my 7 iron to chip with I had to change to a 5 iron. The reason was because the grain would still grab the ball with the 7 iron and I was still leaving them short. I changed to a 5 iron during a practice round and got the roll I wanted. Now, I think I may have only hit that shot once in the 4 day tournament but it saved me a stroke.

So the long answer to the question is any club can be used, it just takes a little practice to get the touch and feel...

[finoky]

I never chip with a set club. Everything depends on the lie, pin position, how much green to work with, slope, etc. I take all that into account and use the club that will get the ball on the green and rolling as soon as possible.

[DaSportsGuy]

I primarily use my 52° for most chipping around the green. Their are however certain situations that call for the 56° or 60° depending on the amount of green and desired trajectory.

[WUTiger]

I found it immensely helpful to find out how far my wedges go with different swings. I now know how far I can hit my 56, 52, and 47 with a quarter swing (shaft parallel to ground the first time) and with a half swing (left arm parallel to the ground). ...

I use a variation on this. You can go out to the driving range on a slow day and set up an actual "distance range card" you can hang onto your bag. Take your wedges and hit six shots each with quarter swing, half swing, three-quarters swing. Then, average the yardage for each six-shot cluster. (If you airmail one, or scuff it, don't put it into average.)

If you use range balls, note that they may not go quite as far as the balls you use on course. (I changed my wedge mix in August, so I need to redo it.) You have to practice once a week to keep the distances sharp. I find my club choice varies course to course. It the course has a run-up area in front of the greens, I use an 8-iron chip quite a bit. If the course is cut with a shaggy rough halo surrounding the greens, I use a lot of 50* pitch-and-run and 58* pop shots from around the edge. I used a PW + 50 + 56 earlier in the season, and may go back to this if the 54 + 58 is too much hassle.

[mirv]

looks like there's already plenty of solid advice given here, but for what it's worth, i usually only chip when i'm less than 10 yards from the green, and my go-to club is a 7-iron, but if there green slopes upwards, i'll use a 6-iron to get a little extra roll, or if it's sloping away from me, i'll use an 8 or 9 to get a little more check on the ball. i never have been able to properly chip using a high-lofted club like a sand wedge, i'm much more comfortable using a short-mid iron and essentially putting the ball with it.

[Shindig]

I use a variation on this. You can go out to the driving range on a slow day and set up an actual "distance range card" you can hang onto your bag. Take your wedges and hit six shots each with quarter swing, half swing, three-quarters swing. Then, average the yardage for each six-shot cluster. (If you airmail one, or scuff it, don't put it into average.)

This is certainly a good idea if you can't do this on an empty field. There is a large enough (60 yards) short game area near me that is reasonably well kept. I went on an empty day and, with used game balls, stepped out the quarter and half swings.

I used this to estimate the 3/4 swings, and modified those based on what I observed in-rounds. The 3/4 swing measurements aren't down to a science, but I'm so rarely in that range anyway (3/4 47° is 65, full 56° is 85) that I'm not worried.

[WUTiger]

Shindig,

My 3/4 distance is comparatively a bit longer, because I use an iron swing with hip turn. For quarter and half, I use an arms-only pendulum swing. For some reason, I had trouble spraying 3/4 shots with pendulum swing.