Which chipping method do you prefer?

[B-Con]

Hands forward, weight forward. The backswing is all upper body, the transition lets the wrists float every so *slightly*, my eyes are focused on the ground an inch ahead of the ball where I want the club to hit. The club may or may not be opened up, depending on my lie. The downswing uses no wrist motion, the objective is for the body, not the arms or wrists, to drive the clubhead into the ground just beyond the ball. My follow through allows my entire body to rotate to face the target, chest and hips both. At the end, my wrists have not moved from their original position. Go to a range with a chipping green and make 1/8 swings (club shaft rotates 1/4 of the way back to parallel), 1/4 swings (club shaft rotates 1/2 way back to parallel), etc, and learn how far each swing carries and how far it rolls out goes. Choose your distance by the length of your backswing, nothing else. The rhythm and lack of wristy-ness should always be the same. (For long chips (>35 yards), the wrists may break very slightly and float at the transition, and there is a minimal effort to bring them back down during the swing.) The higher the loft on the club, the easier it is to dig the leading edge or to flip under it and get little distance. If you can lock yourself into a solid position and learn to hit just beyond the ball, you shouldn't have a problem chipping with a wedge. I'd vote for practicing with the wedge, especially since your greens are fast. But regardless of your club, I'd always play it back in the stance, at least a couple inches. The entire point is to hit down on the ball with a simple motion, why play it forward if you're already having trouble? That said, irons are never a bad choice for chipping, but they will run out a lot more so you have to practice with them to get your distance control down. Same chipping method as the wedge works fine. I used to suck at chipping. I'm not good at it now, but it's the part of the game I fear least. It all came down to using my body, not my wrists, playing the ball from the right spot, and learning how much I had to swing to get the desired distance.

[WUTiger]

Quote:

I try to use Raymond Floyd's idea of putting with loft.  I use either an 8-iron or pitching wedge and go through my whole pre-shot putting routine. ...

If you use a pendulum putting stroke - straight back and straight forward - this works particularly well.

Keep hands in front, and play ball toward back foot. These following all determine fly-to-roll ratio for the chips: Type of ball | firmness of green | loft of club | whether you have open, square, or closed clubface at impact.

[glock35ipsc]

If you are a fan of DVD's, Michelson's short game DVD's are excellent at teaching this.

[zeg]

There are two keys for me, neither of them technical.  Although I'm not a great golfer, I feel pretty confident that these are crucial to chipping well:

1) Chip confidently.  Before the shot, pick your line and your target, figure out how you're going to hit it and how hard.  Then when it's time, trust your read and hit the ball with authority.  You're almost always going to be better off hitting a little too hard than chipping tentatively and dinking it 3 feet.

2) Practice chipping.

[senorchipotle]

everytime i try to use a 9 iron i hit it too far. when i use a pw i come up short. so i always use a 56 if i'm close to the green and try to fly it to about 10 ft.

[allin]

I don't think most courses reward long chips such as the 35 yard one you describe.  Maybe the courses in Texas are more receptive to this type of shot.  Certainly links courses, especially British Open style courses do.  Most US courses have thicker grass around the collars of the greens.  They also tend to have a fair amount of bumps and mounding. I feel pitches are a better choice most of the time for this length shot, usually a LW or SW for me.

Originally Posted by B-Con

Hands forward, weight forward. The backswing is all upper body, the transition lets the wrists float every so *slightly*, my eyes are focused on the ground an inch ahead of the ball where I want the club to hit. The club may or may not be opened up, depending on my lie. The downswing uses no wrist motion, the objective is for the body, not the arms or wrists, to drive the clubhead into the ground just beyond the ball. My follow through allows my entire body to rotate to face the target, chest and hips both. At the end, my wrists have not moved from their original position.

Go to a range with a chipping green and make 1/8 swings (club shaft rotates 1/4 of the way back to parallel), 1/4 swings (club shaft rotates 1/2 way back to parallel), etc, and learn how far each swing carries and how far it rolls out goes. Choose your distance by the length of your backswing, nothing else. The rhythm and lack of wristy-ness should always be the same.

(For long chips (>35 yards), the wrists may break very slightly and float at the transition, and there is a minimal effort to bring them back down during the swing.)

The higher the loft on the club, the easier it is to dig the leading edge or to flip under it and get little distance. If you can lock yourself into a solid position and learn to hit just beyond the ball, you shouldn't have a problem chipping with a wedge. I'd vote for practicing with the wedge, especially since your greens are fast. But regardless of your club, I'd always play it back in the stance, at least a couple inches. The entire point is to hit down on the ball with a simple motion, why play it forward if you're already having trouble?

That said, irons are never a bad choice for chipping, but they will run out a lot more so you have to practice with them to get your distance control down. Same chipping method as the wedge works fine.

I used to suck at chipping. I'm not good at it now, but it's the part of the game I fear least. It all came down to using my body, not my wrists, playing the ball from the right spot, and learning how much I had to swing to get the desired distance.

[slabm7]

Originally Posted by glock35ipsc

If you are a fan of DVD's, Michelson's short game DVD's are excellent at teaching this.

Phil does a great job at explaining this. I used to jump between a PW and SW for chipping depending on distance and type of shot. I had no consistency. I have only played a couple rounds since adapting Phils strategy but it works. Now any time I am inside 60 yards I use a 58 degree wedge regardless of shot type. I change my stance, club face and backswing to alternate shot types. It takes a bit of getting used to but works for controlling shots.

My biggest problem with chipping used to be consistent ball striking. So for standard chips I play the ball off my back foot. This helped tremendously with consistent ball striking. Then just open and close your stance for different types of ball flight needed. Also always lead with your hands and hit down on the ball.

[dhanson]

Originally Posted by zeg

2) Practice chipping.

by far the most important factor in being able to produce effective chips. no matter which shot style you adopt (fly it in high, or low runners) you have to get the feel down, whether it is controlling the trajectory of a high chip, or figuring out distance gaps for chip and runs. phil's dvd is great. you can find various parts of it on youtube. here are the basics.

[saevel25]

First pick the shot type you want, do you want to land it one and let it run out a long way, or do you want to carry it halfway and have it slowly go towards the hole. Then pick your landing spot, now from there, pick which club would get you to the hole if you hit that landing spot. Taking into account lie angle, speeds of green, and if your chipping up or down hill.

As for chipping, make sure your weight is on your front foot. Keep your hands ahead of the ball to impact. I don't like saying all the way through the finish because alot of people then chicken wing the club and end up skulling it. The key is to make sure your rotate your right shoulder around and your hips rotate a tad as well, this takes alot of the hands out of hit, and stops you from trying to life the ball up.

[TN94z]

My opinion is to try several styles and pick which one you are most comfortable with and practice it.  I don't think you can go wrong with the 8i.  I use that quite a bit as I like to get the ball on the green and rolling as soon as possible.  I hit it like a putt.  To me, there is a lot less that can go wrong here than trying to fly it 8 or 10 feet from the hole and hoping it stops where I want it to.

Now, with that being said, I would practice all the other types too because you will need them eventually.  But my 8i is my go to chip that I feel VERY confident in.

[Zeph]

We needed a new chipping thread now. http://thesandtrap.com/forum/thread/45633/chip-vs-pitch#post_594221 http://thesandtrap.com/forum/thread/45621/whats-your-play-around-the-green-in-short-hard-compacted-grass#post_594224 http://thesandtrap.com/forum/thread/44295/which-chipping-method-do-you-prefer http://new.thesandtrap.com/forum/thread/22265/what-clubs-do-you-typically-chip-with

[ukgolfer]

Originally Posted by MSDOGS1976

I played a hinge and hold for years, but the darn shank entered into the picture a couple of years ago. Got between my ears so now use the stiff wrist method. You do what you have to do.

Have just started using this method after watching Mickelson's excellent DVD. Hit the odd shank which Phil puts down to cutting across the ball, not playing down the target line - get that right and it disappears! Having a hinge and hold (quiet wrist action though impact) has started to change my game no end but not able to do what Phil does and just use a 60 degree! Tend to alternate between a 56 for higher spinning shots, and a PW for longer running shots that still have a bit of spin to check them up.

[inthehole]

i think it all depends on how close the pin is to the edge of the green ... if it's tight, you have to lob it; if you have a lot of room, makes sense to chip & run.

[lumpuckeroo]

I go between the two extremes, I use a 52* wedge and don't get the run out of a 9i, and not the hop and stop of a lob wedge.  If I have less green I can add a little loft and get it to stop, if I have plenty of green I can decrease the loft and get it to run.

[B-Con]

I don't think most courses reward long chips such as the 35 yard one you describe.  Maybe the courses in Texas are more receptive to this type of shot.  Certainly links courses, especially British Open style courses do.  Most US courses have thicker grass around the collars of the greens.  They also tend to have a fair amount of bumps and mounding. I feel pitches are a better choice most of the time for this length shot, usually a LW or SW for me.

When I say 35 yards, I mean from the ball to the pin, not total carry. So that's maybe 20 yards of carry and 10 yards of rollout. Granted a pitch shot may be a better in those circumstances, but coming off a flat lie or even out of some rough I find it helpful. My local courses don't have much punishing rough lining the greens, but even then I find that hitting down is an easy way to get the ball out. That said, I don't always chip from 35 yards. But sometimes it's the safest shot for me.

[ohiolefty]

I went with #3...but I felt uneasy about it.

It depends. Under good conditions where I don't 'need' to hole it, I'm going to hit a chip and run and let the ball chase up to the hole. It's more consistent, and your bad shots aren't going to be as bad.

But, under bad conditions, or when I really need to hole it, I'm taking my 60 degree wedge. Why? I can hit it a little more aggressively and I don't have to rely on the green, breaks etc. as much.

Please note: I'm a recent convert as of this Spring to the method of using different wedges for different shots. Before, I always hit everything close with my LW and was done with it - done it this way since I got an LW at 14 years old. This year, I've added running chips with my 8 iron and PW to the LW arsenal. It's good at times, but since it's new...I don't trust it under pressure when I need a shot to win a hole or if it's on the 18th green (or 9th) to make a certain number. Plus, I flub chips occasionally with the 8 iron and PW (probably because using these clubs is so new for me) which I never do with my LW.

[inthehole]

Originally Posted by ohiolefty

I went with #3...but I felt uneasy about it.

It depends. Under good conditions where I don't 'need' to hole it, I'm going to hit a chip and run and let the ball chase up to the hole. It's more consistent, and your bad shots aren't going to be as bad.

But, under bad conditions, or when I really need to hole it, I'm taking my 60 degree wedge. Why? I can hit it a little more aggressively and I don't have to rely on the green, breaks etc. as much.

Please note: I'm a recent convert as of this Spring to the method of using different wedges for different shots. Before, I always hit everything close with my LW and was done with it - done it this way since I got an LW at 14 years old. This year, I've added running chips with my 8 iron and PW to the LW arsenal. It's good at times, but since it's new...I don't trust it under pressure when I need a shot to win a hole or if it's on the 18th green (or 9th) to make a certain number. Plus, I flub chips occasionally with the 8 iron and PW (probably because using these clubs is so new for me) which I never do with my LW.

Funny, I'm in the same boat ... more comfortable with the lob wedge, but am learning the chip & run shot with the 8/9 iron.       The key I find is you must land the ball on the green & let it run - if you don't make it & land it on the edge of the rough, you're done.      Determining the length of the shot to make it to the edge of the green seems to be the key for this shot...

[Cut68]

It really depends on the shot for me, but I'm always using some sort of wedge, be it the 54, 58, or 64. I'm pretty much always going to put some spin on it, too, but that doesn't mean I'm not rolling the ball up there. If there are a lot of breaks between me and the hole, though, I will use a 64 and fly it all the way there.