Consistant Chipping

Hello All,

I am new to the group and this is my first post.

I started playing golf in May 2007 and I have had 5 golf lessons, but I am still erratic, except for one area, chipping.

My Pro gave me a tip that was worth all the lessons I payed for. Which is simply, hit your bump and run chips off the toe of your club. He says that you can feel the shot better, it will not fly off the sweet spot and can never be shanked. It may feel a little strange at first, but believe me, the results come in fast and they are consistant. Try it and see!

Best wishes

Gordon

hi gordon
welcome to GTO

another thing you should try for in your chips is use the lofted wedge like a putter and hit it as hard as you would a putter from the same distance. hit the middle of the club face and your accuracy will be just as good...

welcome to GTO

Welcome. Your pro gave you some good advice on your chipping. I also use the toe of my club for chipping and shorter pitch shots. Practicing from different areas around the green, from different types of lies will also help lower your scores. Practice moving the ball backwards and/or forward in your stance to give yourself more insight as to what types of shots you can hit when different situations come up. GJS

Hitting the toe is ok to take a little off the chip, or deaden the shot if you will, this also works on downhill putts. But to truly get good at chipping, you must develop a consistent stroke.

I was taught growing up, that the closer you get to the hole, the less moving parts you have, so with that in mind, for putting you would have no moving parts from the waist down. Chipping you have a very slight if any moving parts from the waist down. To do that, it is largely technique. When chipping, regardless of the club I am using. I open my stance slightly, and the secret technique...have the left leg straighter then the right (not locked) and the right knee flexed. This does several things, one it puts most of the weight on the left leg and forcing it to be a pivot point. Two, it restricts most of the lower body movement, i.e no hip movement in the back swing for the chip. Three, it allows for a free follow through and consistent stroke. Very difficult to hit behind the ball or chilly dip.

The basic stroke is ALWAYS the same, not longer or shorter, stronger or lighter, regardless of the shot. Using different clubs produce different distance the ball will roll out. By keeping the stroke the same, you will learn pretty quickly, how far each club will roll out, and which you will need to use for a given shot. Consistency will come, because you are basically doing the same shot or stroke.

Yeah, your right about that approach to the wedge. As a matter of fact, that way to use the wedge is also featured in the Tiger Woods book. Welcome to GTO and have a great time with the game.

Just remember this, your only as good as your practicing time put in. And take golf courtesy in front of everything else regardless how bad you may be on an off day for you. I would rather play with a bad golfer who keeps up with the pace rather than a pre-madonna golfer who is taking forever with his routine shot.

D-

Chipping with the toe is used ordinarilly when the ball is in a thicker lie around the green. Using the toe for contact point largely eliminates the blade from getting caught in the thicker cut around the green because you must raise the heel higher than the toe which gives you cleaner contact with the ball. If you intend to use it all the time, practice it all the time.

Actually chipping with the toe of the club was being taught years ago. It is not new. The idea behind this method was to duplicate the same stroke as the putting stroke. The concept being a chip shot is merely a putt with a lofted club. In the putting stroke the golfer should putt best when their eyes are over the ball target line. To duplicate this with a lofted club required the golfer to grip down to a length consistant with their putter's length, while holding the club more up right. This lifted the heel off the ground. When doing this, a second adjustment is required, since any club raised up on it's toe tends to aim the club face right. That adjustment is to "toe in" the club face to square it with the intended target line. If you do not make this adjustment, with the toe down, the club face will impart side spin, along with excessive loft, which could play havoc with the roll of the ball. One of the advantages of this chipping method is that when you practice it, you are also practicing your putting stroke, and vice versa.

I have no disagreement with the above posts, just adding a little more information to the toe down method of chipping. Both Mike Adams, and T.J. Tomasi taught this method of chipping along with the flight to roll ratio using the various lofted irons. Given that technology over the years has change how irons are made, newer chipping methods being taught probably work just as well.

Hope this helps to shed some light on this topic. GJS

Another fundamental not mentioned for chipping is no wrist break. I make sure the angle in my right wrist does not change through impact. It has virtually eliminated me chunking or blading the ball.

sounds like good advice, will have to try it out.

One more thing to add to the above. Focus on where to land the ball when you chip. Too many players focus on the hole rather than the landing area. If I hit my landing area and the ball doesn't end up near the hole I know its because of a misread.

3 keys that work for me...



Work on chipping it close and turn a missed green into a
par save and you will have mastered a part of the game necessary
to great scores.
Three keys to consistent chipping are
1. Keep your hands loose. Tension causes bad chips.
2. Play the ball back in your stance. Chip shots require
a descending blow. Playing the ball back in your stance
assures that you will hit down on it and almost guarantees you will not chunk it.
3. Don’t let the lead hand’s wrist break until the ball
is moving…better yet…don’t let it break at all! When
chipping, there is no releasing of the wrists like in the
full swing. Flipping of the wrists will causes inconsistency
and can lead to thin or bladed chips.

__________________
Hey Everybody, check out my Daily Golf BLOG at http://www.rutagolf.com I would LOVE feedback from all of you and your insight and opinions are welcome! I have a great archive of Golf tips and articles pertaining to everything Golf! Thanks!

I agree with everything Super GolferMan has said about chipping with the exception of one thing. The whole purpose of keeping your wrists relaxed is so there is a certain amount; not much, of wrist release through impact. If you don't release the RIGHT WRIST after the RIGHT ELBOW just before inpact you stand a good chance of shanking or topping the ball. The RIGHT ELBOW being more important of a release than the wrist. I see so many golfers taking the approach of not releasing that there entire upper body is way too stiff. Stay relaxed, release the right elbow, and always follow through down the target line. 2008 Most Improved Golfer Tahoe Paradise GC. 10.2

Another aspect to consider is club selection. I started out in golf using only one club for chipping. I did that for a long time and became very good with my pitching wedge. People use to call me Mr. Short Game and boy did I need it because of wild inconsistency with other parts of my game. When I finally took lessons and got serious about figuring out how to swing properly I migrated to the use of different clubs for different roll outs. My chipping got worse but I stuck with it hoping to improve in the long run. It never happened. So I am back with the single club theory but this time I use a sand wedge. I am now getting feel back and chipping and pitching the ball better. For me it just calls for too much thinking which translates to tension to figure roll out for each club. You also have to figure out how the contour of the green effects the roll out. Unless you have a lot of time for practice to get a feel for the different clubs you can use for chipping, you may want to consider the single club approach. I am just feeling the club and looking at landing spots. Sometimes I am looking at a shot a few feet off the green with a lot of contours between me and hole. I can take the same club and pitch over one level of the green to another to get a flatter roll to the hole. I know exactly what this one club will do for any type of shot. Of course that doesn't mean I execute right every time but definitely more than before.

I use a 56 degree from 25 yrs. in, my gap from 40 yrds. to 25 yrds. in because of the less lofted clubface for pitch and roll up to the hole. If I need a high shot, I'll always use my lob wedge anywhere from 50 yrds. in. Totally different stroke. Still have to work on backspin with that club though.