How to get check on chips?

How should you play a chip so you get that lovely check on the greens? I can play the bump and run and get some nice running chips but now the greens are starting to firm up a wee bit as we get into summer Im looking to trying to learn how to play the shot that hits the green running and then checks up, rather than continues on 6-10 feet past as I had repeatedly last weekend

Any advice?

I'm no expert but how about taking a club with a bit more loft and placing the ball slightly further towards the back of your stance. (It's what I try to do). That way you can have approximately the same effective club loft (= carry distance) whilst promoting a more downward hit which, as far as I know, also encourages back spin.

P.S. Keep your hands ahead of the ball at impact.

But like I say --- I'm no expert but it's what I try to do.

You need clean grooves, a clean soft cover ball, a clean and good lie and soft/wet greens. Without these, it doesn't matter much how well you execute the shot.

Hit down hard on the ball without any hinging (stiff hands) and hit the ball first - almost skull it. Use a PW/SW/LW and put the ball back in the stance. No follow through.

I think thats my issue, hitting down hard on the ball. When im chipping i like to feel weight on my front foot, ball in line with my right ankle (a la Pelz) keeping my triangle intact and have really soft hands. If I tried to come down hard on it my brain would tell me I would overcook it and send the ball shooting 12 foot by

I'm not an expert either (far from it) but I am working my way through Tom Watson's short game book and he pretty much advocates NOT trying to get back / check spin on chips.

His general advice is to vary the loft / roll and / landing area and let the chips run UNLESS the landing area is such (slope mainly) that you need a different approach. I have n't worked though the "special chips" section yet so there might be some relevant advice there - I'll have a look.

Yes, the shot should be as if the flag was 5 yards (or so) further back. If you pull it off, the ball will check and stop. If you don't pull it off then, well...

I've practiced this shot and actually can hit it now and then, but I would never try it on course (at least if I cared about my score)

Here is the way that I do it to get check on chips:

1) Use a lofted club (SW and more)
2) Put the ball back in your stance just a little bit (as everyone here mentioned)
3) Have your weight slightly on your left side to get more of a downward blow (same as everyone else here again)
Now here is where I start to be different
4) keep soft hands for the backswing. Which means that you will let your wrist cock a little bit
5) On the down swing though, dont let your wrists release. Kinda hold it as if you are playing a punch shot. Follow through but keep the club low.

That seems to get my ball to check quite a bit on the greens.

i use a method similar to piny08 - it definitely works. I perhaps add a more definite wrist break. Another method i use it to really feel the club head moving towards the target - never letting it turn over. Almost feel you are opening it - watch tiger play his pitches like this. The important thing to remember however you play it is that you need speed, good contact, right ball and responsive greens!

cheers

for me,
ball in middle of stance, which is open, with feet togethor
weight a little more on left side
hands above the ball at address with NO forward shaft lean
objective at impact is to have hands farther ahead of the ball at impact then they were at address

Too much forward shaft lean at address and it is very hard to maintain that through the swing and into impact. I find it better to go from less to more, rather then more to more.

I found the exact same discussion on GolfWRX:

http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=27500

I found a simple method for this many years ago,

As Pete says with the clean clubs and soft ball:

Place the ball from middle to back whichever suits you, your weight must stay on the left side (practice with the right heel off the ground) and simply hit the ball hard enough to travel double the distance from the flag with a normal shot.

The second most important thing is you must use a lofted club (sand or lob)around the green (pitch or 9) from further away and thats all, also keep your head down until you see the grass under the ball.

The third and most important thing you need is believe in the shot you are going to play, without this the ball will travel double the distance you need and make you very silly.

Good luck guys


Ian.

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Once you learn the swing, your next step is mastering golf psychology................

I used to play with a scratch golfer long time ago. He used LW or SW. And he skull the ball. The ball fly with super speed in a flat trajectory (just 1ft above the ground), i started to laugh thinking he lost that hole until i saw the ball go to the hole.

The thing is though the ball breeze past the fringe grass and checked one feet before the hole ...and slowly trickle into the hole. Amazing shot i ever witnessed.

He repeat this shot very frequently.

When i tried the shot , the ball went out of the green. hahaha.

The club comes so flat(low to the ground). and hard at the ball to create tremendous back spin.

I hear you about the mental "leap of faith" that is required when hitting down hard on the ball. Your mind is telling you that following through and hitting down hard is just way to much force for the distance you need the ball to travel.

Think of it like you would a cue ball on a pool table. If you take your thumb and compress it hard on the backside of the cue ball it will go forward with a solid backspin. Its that compression against the fairway that creates the "check" you are looking for.

Many peoples brain tells them that you need to create friction on the face of the club as you are "scooping" the shot off the ground. This is when you see 25 yard chips turn into 50 yard rockets across the green that require additonal 25 yard chips. The opposite thing that can happens is a delay at the moment of impact for fear that you will "skull" one of these rockets. This is when you see 25 yard chips turn into 3 yard "chunks".

Only solution: Instead of hitting 4 buckets of driver at the range. Hit 4 buckets of "no pressure" chips. Hit down hard and follow through properly and confidently with the knowledge that it wont affect your scorecard. This is where the trust is built.

was giving this a little thought, it sounds like a cool thing to do...but....why would you want to learn to check/ backspin your chips? shouldnt the ball track & ROLL towards the hole and hopefully into it? hard to hole out it the ball keeps checking up....but great for pitches, not so much chips....my opinion..

There's always a situation for every shot. Bump and run is great if you have enough green to work with. You may just be getting the ball to check so it doesn't roll any further past the hole that it would normally. Picture this, you are hitting into a green that slopes slightly from right to left, pin is about 4 feet from the right edge. You missed the green to the right pin high and in between your ball and the green is a small finger of the bunker. The green is now sloping downhill from your position. If you play a bump and run over the bunker you will be off the other side of the green. If you can get your ball to check up here, you are giving yourself a chance to save par.

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Gord

Quote of the month:
"It's easy to see golf not as a game at all but as some whey-faced, nineteenth-century Presbyterian minister's fever dream of exorcism achieved through ritual and self-mortification." ~Bruce McCall