Chipping With a Putting Method

[Golfingdad]

2 hours ago, newtogolf said:

I just got the Callaway X-ACT chipper to test, do you think that motion would work with it too?  

Definitely.  Possibly even slightly simpler with a chipper because it's already designed for that, likely more upright than a 9 iron etc. :)

[dchoye]

I still like this method.  It feels like I using my bottom hand as a "forehand" to the chip toward the apex and let the ball break downhill to the hole . Great for downhill chips 

I look at the top back corner edge of the ball to chip the ball that kicks right and look at the leading edge of the wedge rather than the ball if I want to kick left 

I find I can also shut and lay open the wedge face with the same hand and make it easy to hit out of the sand with similar rhythm 

Edited July 26, 2016 by dchoye

[boogielicious]

11 hours ago, Golfingdad said:

I've practiced this once at the range a long time ago (after seeing this thread) with some success.  I tried to use it a few times a couple of weeks ago with disastrous results.  Turns out I was being a dummy and using the wrong club (sand wedge).  Did it 3 times over the weekend - this time with my 50, although I would probably have success with even more club - and the results were all easy tap-ins for up-n-downs.  (One was a sever lip out that I thought was going to drop)

One thing I think helped me along is that I treated the whole thing like a putt.  Read the break and everything - something I don't normally do with shots without a putter in my hand.

I will definitely spend more time fine tuning this shot and will go to it a lot more.  

Even a 50 degree wedge might have too much loft and check up. I use my 9 iron or 8 if it's uphill and the ball rolls out much more predictably. If I use my gap wedge or higher, it can check up. I've holed out with my 9 iron about 5 times.

[Golfingdad]

4 hours ago, boogielicious said:

Even a 50 degree wedge might have too much loft and check up. I use my 9 iron or 8 if it's uphill and the ball rolls out much more predictably. If I use my gap wedge or higher, it can check up. I've holed out with my 9 iron about 5 times.

Agreed.  I just need to practice it a few more times. :)

---

I was thinking about this more last night and I came to the realization that there is really no situation where I, even as a <5 handicap, expect to get down in 2 with a club in my hand that isn't a putter.  Sure, I will get up and down from off the green occasionally (somewhere between 1/4 and 1/3 of the time, I think) but it's never expected.

This shot will change that, I think.

[Ernest Jones]

Just thought I'd throw this out there: I got out for the first time in ages, needless to say, my game was a horrid mess -  - so I had to keep things real simple. I was using this technique with my 60* (yup) from as much as 30-35' off the green. Hit it with gusto and it popped up nice and high and gave me slightly less than 1:1 roll out. I'm sure I looked silly hitting this massive chutts, but I had the best short game in my group!

 

[woodzie264]

On June 1, 2014 at 6:56 AM, dchoye said:

Been using this chipping method more and more.

Great when I have a short chip to a downslope green and I cant putt because of sticky fringe.

I find the toe of a LW works just fine.

That's how I've done it for years. Elevating the heel off the ground and using the toe of my LW, I use a putting stroke...has given me dozens of chip-in's. Definitely worth a try for those who are curious

[dchoye]

On July 26, 2016 at 6:22 PM, woodzie264 said:

That's how I've done it for years. Elevating the heel off the ground and using the toe of my LW, I use a putting stroke...has given me dozens of chip-in's. Definitely worth a try for those who are curious

Since my post 2 years ago I been finding that been using my LW and SW more for chipping around the greens either a bump or flop accounts for most of my chipping now 

This toe technique I using a low lofted club like a 9iron now and more specifically for short downhill draw chip that I can reasonable hole out say within 20 paces to the hole 

Also like the hybrid if I got a fade type downhill chip .  Either way I use either the toe or heel side.   

I find bump/flop techniques work better for me for most other situations.  Uphill , short sided, longer than 15 paces to the hole , etc

however extreme fast or downhill condition this "toe method " is very affective 

[skeedawg]

Wow! I'm sold. Practiced this tonight and holed out on almost every group of five I hit. I cannot remember the last time I holed a chip with my old method. Thanks Mike!!

[Hacker James]

Nice reminder post. Although a few years old, still works well. I try to keep my chips/pitches simple and use probably no more than three techniques depending on the situation. This one sort of came to me intuitively even before the original posting, but the description gave meaning to what I  was already doing. As I recall, Tiger used to use a fairway wood off the edge of the green frequently. I would wager that a lot of people do not take advantage of the bounce as much as they should.

Edited August 29, 2016 by Hacker James

[Liko81]

This is the difference between my pitch and my chip; a pitch in my game is a smaller, gentler iron swing (takeback is only to between 9 and 12 o' clock instead of to 2-3 o' clock), and it's something I've only recently been able to hit cleanly, to say nothing of dropping it where I want it especially at very short range. If I'm inside 10 yards from the edge of the green, I'll just take a club that will roll out the distance I want afterward (somewhere between a 7 and a gap) and give it a stiff-armed, stiff-wristed bump to set it on the green and let it run out from there.

As far as rollout distance, it depends on the club and you really just have to try em out. Bring your bag to the chipping green and start with your highest-lofted club. Start about 3-5 yards off the green and aim for the edge, then see how much further past the edge the ball rolls. Take notes (mentally or on paper); this carry-to-rollout ratio will be similar for just about any strength of swing with this style of chipping. So, when you get to the course, estimate how many clublengths it is from your lie to the green, and then how many clublengths more to the hole, choose your club accordingly, and then aim for the edge of the green. This works until you have to carry a longer distance than you can roll out, at which point you switch to the pitch shot to drop it where you want it.

[Hacker James]

Coincidentally, this method was featured on The Golf Channel yesterday with various legendary players demonstrating. (Ray Floyd,  Colin Montgomery, Johnny Miller and others). When asked specific questions, Floyd answers "just like you do you putter, same grip, same stance, same stroke".

[b101]

My chipping is rubbish and still find I keep coming back to this as my best fix - I find my hands do get overactive through the shot though if I'm trying to fly it more than, say, five yards. For the very short carries though, this is just perfect and so much better than the 'old school' technique. Great information @mvmac and never gets old!

[Grizvok]

I definitely need to revisit this as well. I feel like I’ve added aspects of this technique into my chipping but haven’t really gone the whole way such as using a putting grip and keeping the elbows bent the entirety of the stroke.

[WillieT]

On 11/10/2013 at 10:41 PM, mvmac said:

 

Putting is definitely an option but then you have to rely on not getting any weird bounces in the fringe.  This doesn't mean that every time you're on the fringe you have to chip or pitch it, depends on the situation.  Also, if someone is not confident chipping or pitching it, then yes putt it but I think for certain shots, carrying the fringe and allowing the ball to roll out can be more consistent than a putt.  Especially on the longer shots from off the fringe.  Let's say I'm six paces off the green and have 30 feet of green to the hole, I can make a simple "chitch" stroke with a 7 iron where I would really have to "hit it" with a putter which can create some inconsistencies with contact and how the ball launches off the putter.  Point of the video is to give people another option, go out and experiment with it and see if it works for them.

 

For the video I was running out of daylight so I couldn't go out on the course, decided to hit some shots on the practice short game green.

When I read this it was a combination of "ah-ha" and "oh yea".  "Ah - ha" as I had just started doing this in my chip  practice with the 7-GW irons in the back yard.  It was "Oh yea" when I saw the ball rocket from the rough (10' out) across the green to the rough now 30' out and down hill......needless to say "lesson learned".   I am looking forward to the next time out and making use of this technique.  

[djake]

On 11/10/2013 at 7:16 AM, mvmac said:

Some might call it a "chitch" or a "pip" (thanks Erik).  This is a style of chipping that's more reliable than the "ball back in the stance, hands forward, lean left" style of chipping.  Like with a traditional chipping motion, the swing is short, there is little wrist hinge but we aren't engaging the leading edge, there's very little shaft lean.  We are still using the bounce like in a pitch shot, hence the terms "chitch" or "pip".  We know bounce is extremely useful because it allows the club to glide through the grass.

 

A traditional chip shot can still be useful on occasion but by far most of your short game shots should be utilizing the bounce, whether it's a standard pitch, bunker shot or this style of chip/pitching that I'm sharing below.  This chipping with a putting stroke works great with irons off tight lies, in the video I'm using a 9 iron first and then a 7 iron at the end.

 

 

 

@mvmac I wanted to say THANK YOU for this video.  I tried this technique last night utilizing my PW from 5 to10 yards or so off the green on the approach.  I just about chipped in and left myself with a couple inch tap in putt.   Even thought the content is from 2013, it still made a very nice difference in 2020 for me.

Chip the way you Putt is now a permanent part of my game😎

[boogielicious]

16 hours ago, djake said:

@mvmac I wanted to say THANK YOU for this video.  I tried this technique last night utilizing my PW from 5 to10 yards or so off the green on the approach.  I just about chipped in and left myself with a couple inch tap in putt.   Even thought the content is from 2013, it still made a very nice difference in 2020 for me.

Chip the way you Putt is now a permanent part of my game😎

Careful. This works well from tight lies, but from deeper rough, a pitch or chip could be a better choice.

[Golfingdad]

10 hours ago, boogielicious said:

Careful. This works well from tight lies, but from deeper rough, a pitch or chip could be a better choice.

Agree, and also this is more useful for me from right off the green.  It's basically when I can almost putt it, but I'm still in the rough so I need to get it over a little bit of grass.

[golfindude1]

Thank you @mvmac for the useful information. Should the tempo for the "chitching" stroke also be the same as your putting stroke?

Edited July 31, 2020 by golfindude1