# Chipping help



## ShakeyFly (Oct 16, 2006)

Hello all, new to the game literally 6 months, but have been progressing fairly well. I shot my best the other day of a 95 on a par 72. But one thing is driving me crazy and that is chipping. When I am 10 - 20 yards off the green, whether on the fairway or rough stuff. I am having a problem chipping it onto the green. I either hit it too short or I can't get the ball to pop up in the air and sit on the green. I know there are probably a million things that I am doing wrong, but any advice to get me in the right direction would be appreciated! 

My theory, I might be placing the ball in the wrong position in my stance (that's what some guy told me on the course)?


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## KingofSliceNDice (Oct 9, 2006)

I have the same problems. I shot a decent round today with a buddy of mine playing captains choice against a couple of other guys we know. They have been playing for considerably longer than me and my brother in law (this was his 3rd round with a set of lefty clubs, 5th round in all) and they only beat us by 4 strokes on 18 holes. The things that helped with my chipping today was using a club without alot of loft when close to the green (10-15 yds). A 9 iron was my club of choice, and when i wanted a bump and run shot i used a 7. When 25-30 yds back though, it got very ugly. I tried my sand wedge with little to NO results lol. Either i would hit it VERY short or i would skull it and hit it a mile too far. I would say, try a 9 iron just to see what happens. Maybe the lower loft and the softer swing will get you to the green. and BTW, when allowed and money is on the line, nothing and i mean NOTHING is better than an old school Two Way Chipper lol.

DA DICER


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## matthewarnold91 (Oct 26, 2006)

buy a lob wedge, or if the surface is good, use a putter. You could even try a rescue club


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## Police (Oct 26, 2006)

Yeah i agree get a 60* lob wedge


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## fitz-uk (Apr 28, 2006)

lob wedges tend to cost more shots than they save for beginners, I guarentee you will thin the tits off it more than hitting it sweet.

next time you are playing a chip shot ignore the flag, just visualise where you want to land the ball, aim to that rather than the flag.


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## jolt-tsp (Nov 1, 2006)

About all you can do is practice. Get a feel for how you swing and how far it goes. Don't be afraid to go to your practice range with a clipboard and take notes about each shot. Remember how fast you swung, how open the face was, how far back you brought the club and the result.


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## elizzy.jones (Nov 7, 2006)

A lob wedge is probably not the best idea, it has too much room for error. Chipping is all about feel and tempo. Make sure you are making a smooth stroke, similar to a putting stroke. Try chipping with a pitching wedge and place the ball back in your stance and choke down on the club. One thing that I find very helpful is to make sure you are keeping your head still and keep that weight forward. Hope this is helpful!
Elizabeth


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## Police (Oct 26, 2006)

Ok then its best to work with what you have id say have a lesson and see what your pro says


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## scaramanga (Dec 7, 2006)

I would agree with the comments regarding a lob wedge being hard to hit, it took me a good 3 months of hard practice to start hitting consitent shots with mine.

elizzy has some very good advice (smooth stroke, weight forward), you can apply that advice to any distance under 80 yrds.

Police is right about seeing a teaching pro, I cannot urge you enough to see a pro before bad habits settle in.

good luck


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## 65nlovenit (Dec 8, 2006)

If your new at golf, I would suggest that unless you have to go over something (sand trap/embankment) that you chip with an 7or 8 iron. Their traditionally lower angle elevation clubs, that promote a "bump and run" shot, rather then trying to lob the ball to the pin, which takes a lot more skill. Basically your using a long putt shot, where you control how far the ball goes by your back swing. Using a lob wedge takes considerable more talent and practice.


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## Fourputt (Nov 18, 2006)

I agree with "take a short game lesson". We can give you all sorts of advice, but without seeing what you are doing now, we really can't even give you reasonable advice in how to fix it. If that was possible, you would see infomercials for 1-900-PLY-GOLF to call a pro for your "lesson". A competent teaching pro HAS to see you hit shots in order to make any useful evaluation of how to start improving your game. :thumbsup:


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## titaniummd (Sep 16, 2006)

ShakeyFly said:


> Hello all, new to the game literally 6 months, but have been progressing fairly well. I shot my best the other day of a 95 on a par 72. But one thing is driving me crazy and that is chipping. When I am 10 - 20 yards off the green, whether on the fairway or rough stuff. I am having a problem chipping it onto the green. I either hit it too short or I can't get the ball to pop up in the air and sit on the green. I know there are probably a million things that I am doing wrong, but any advice to get me in the right direction would be appreciated!
> 
> My theory, I might be placing the ball in the wrong position in my stance (that's what some guy told me on the course)?


I stand and take a practice swing and determine where the club hits the ground. That is where the ball goes for me. My feet are almost together and I stand more upright with most of the weight on my left foot (right handed golfer).

I was struggling with chipping also and I started in May also. I wasn't buying into Tomasi's description regarding his method but the 'feel' method isn't working for me. Depending upon the club, there is an airtime distance and roll distance.

The less the ball stays in the air the more accurate the line.

What he recommends is walk out from the ball to about a foot onto the green and count that as air time. Count off from there to the hole and count that as roll time. Example, Air Time 20 feet and roll time is 60 feet. (Airtime/rolltime = 20/60 = 1/3). Then take the denominator and subtract from 12. (12-3 = 9) So use the 9 iron. It worked for me.


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## 65nlovenit (Dec 8, 2006)

What TITANUMMD has stated is called the RULE OF 12. Its an excellent way to figure out what club to use, from some given distance. The problem is not with the rule, its with new golfers. New golfers have this tendency to walk up to their ball from some where down the fairway, make a guesstimate of the remaining distance to the flag, select a club and fire away. What they SHOULD be doing is what Titanummd mentioned in his advice, walk up to the green and then back to your ball, using your steps to calculate the remaining distance, then you can affectively use the RULE OF 12. It does work, but like everything it takes practice, practice, practice......


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## titaniummd (Sep 16, 2006)

What is amazing is that it does actually work. My round yesterday calculated out to a PW every time and I was within a reasonable putting distance for 1 or 2. I would love to 'hole out' but I have successfully put it in the hole on numerous practice sessions (at least 2 times per session).


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## 808///M3 (Dec 29, 2006)

I had way too much trouble with chipping as well when I first started. From a frustrated golfer's point of view, here are some tips I think will help.

1) Play the ball back (you've heard this before), but here's the key - while keeping your arms and club in the straight, symmetrical "Y" shape, move your hands, arms, shoulders AND the clubhead back to the ball while keeping everything else steady. Your hands will be slightly back of center, and it may feel strange, but your cantact should improve. Arms and club in a "Y" shape keeps the clubhead at or near full extension - meaning harder to hit heavy. Making the typical "slanted" y-shape at setup (hands pressed forward) leads to too many variables as a beginner. 

2) At setup, keeping the face square, feel as if the HEEL of the club is resting on the ground more so than the toe. Same thing at impact, bring the heel back down to the same place it started. Your arms and wrists need to be relaxed to do this. Don't forget the "Y" from above. It's much harder to hit thin by doing this. And, by following #1, it is more difficult to hit heavy as well. 

Unless you have trouble between you and the green, use your pitching wedge. It'll do everything you need it to do when chipping. Too many clubs = too much throttling back and too much thinking for a beginner.

Good luck!


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## tkessel (Dec 28, 2006)

titaniummd said:


> What is amazing is that it does actually work. My round yesterday calculated out to a PW every time and I was within a reasonable putting distance for 1 or 2. I would love to 'hole out' but I have successfully put it in the hole on numerous practice sessions (at least 2 times per session).


How far away from the green/pin can I be and chip instead of pitch? :dunno: I've been trying to lob/pitch the ball onto the green near the pin when I'm about 20' or further from the edge of the green, and only chip when I'm less than 20' (and usually less than 10', from the fringe of the green).

Reading this thread, I think I should be chipping much more often. 

I guess a follow up question would be how to apply the "12" when the green is a bit elevated. Not everything is level. (I know I'm not telling you anything new.) So it does get a lot more exciting when the green is 4 feet below me, about 10 feet away, or 10" higher, from where I am trying to chip.


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## Fourputt (Nov 18, 2006)

There will always be a certain amount of estimation involved in chipping and pitching. There are all sorts of "correct" methods. Many use a different club for different carry - roll combinations. For me, that just gets hard to develop a consistent feel. I'm a feel player, not a mechanical one, and the rule of 12 simply slows everything down too much for me. And no matter how carefully you calculate the shot, you still have to develop the feel necessary to make the stroke, and the experience to adjust for situations, i.e. rough, slope, elevation change, etc.

I use one club (my PW) for 90% of my chips, with the GW taking the other 10%. I will change the ball position, move it forward if I want to pop it up, or back if I want more run, but I do it all with the same 2 clubs, and I practice regularly with those clubs. When faced with a chip or a pitch, I ALWAYS feel that I'm going to have a chance to hole out... I don't usually succeed, but I have that much confidence in my ability with those clubs. The one thing that doesn't change is that I always set up with my weight mostly on the inside edge of my left foot, and I keep it there through out the stroke.


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## fitz-uk (Apr 28, 2006)

tkessel said:


> How far away from the green/pin can I be and chip instead of pitch?



This will depend on what is in front of you.

If you have nothing but fairway and then the green in front of you, you can chip and run or pitch. As long as you can gauge the power required to get the ball to stop near the hole.

If you have some bumpy fairway in your way you could still elect to chip and run, but you will have to pay a lot more attention to where you want the ball to land and what possible way the ball could run. A lot of players will play a lofted shot here to take this problem out of the question.

If there is a pond or sand trap in between you and the green I wouldnt advise the ground route.

Having said that I was shown a shot at the weekend which made me smile.

35ft of water in front of 25ft of fairway then the green. The guy I played with, hit his ball (deliverately) to skim across the water (it bounced 4 times) then it rolled out through the fairway and finished on the green. It was all planned as it was a spare ball.


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## Fourputt (Nov 18, 2006)

I think that was one of the shots that Trevino loved to show off with. Never heard of anyone doing it in a real competition though. :dunno:


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## tkessel (Dec 28, 2006)

fitz-uk said:


> This will depend on what is in front of you.
> 
> If you have nothing but fairway and then the green in front of you, you can chip and run or pitch. As long as you can gauge the power required to get the ball to stop near the hole.
> 
> If you have some bumpy fairway in your way you could still elect to chip and run, but you will have to pay a lot more attention to where you want the ball to land and what possible way the ball could run. A lot of players will play a lofted shot here to take this problem out of the question.


Watching my "Golf for Dummies" DVD, and recalling at least one book I read recently, the goal for chipping was to get the ball about three feet onto the green, then let it roll to the pin. Your answer seems to imply that I don't have to worry quite so much about getting it three feet onto the green before it rolls. That's one reason I eased up on my chip shots, I had so much trouble getting the right amount of roll. Getting the ball to about 3 feet onto the green I could do (somewhat), but getting the roll after was usually very problematic.


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## fitz-uk (Apr 28, 2006)

I suppose 90% of golfers when first learning to chip and run would use their 7 iron.

With this in mind, lets say that you have 20ft of fairway to the front of the green and that the flag is a further 20ft on.

So total distance from the ball to flag would be 40ft.

When chipping with a 7 iron keep in mind that the total distance of the balls travel will work out like this - 25% flight 75% roll.

So in theory, you would need to land the ball 10ft in front of you and let the ball roll out another 30ft to the flag.

*What this doesnt allow for is the condition of the fairway, and the slope of the fairway and green.*

So if the fairway is perfect, and the fairway and green are both flat, the above forumlae should work out pretty good. However, you might find that the ball will stop short if you are running through a lot of fairway. Generally the 25 / 75 split will come if you are chipping from the fringe.

So you might need to fly the 7 iron further if you intend on letting it roll through longer or wet grass.

You can adjust this with your other clubs, at the other end of the spectrum you should find that if you played the same chip using your sand iron, the ball should fly approximately 80% of the way and roll another 20% (to a certain degree). This takes out a lot of the variables for the ball to roll through, however its not as easy a shot to play as the 7 iron. 

If you hit your 7 iron fat or thin, you will have more margin for error.

If you hit your sand iron fat, chance are you wont make the green and doing this a few times will result in a sand iron being snapped over your knee. Also, if you hit these thin (you need to hit your lofted shots harder over the same distance as a bump and run) the chances are it will whistle through the green.

Your other clubs in the bag will give you different splits of run / roll.

As a beginner I wouldnt reccomend playing a lofted shot closed out the back of your stance just yet


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## Fourputt (Nov 18, 2006)

tkessel said:


> Watching my "Golf for Dummies" DVD, and recalling at least one book I read recently, the goal for chipping was to get the ball about three feet onto the green, then let it roll to the pin. Your answer seems to imply that I don't have to worry quite so much about getting it three feet onto the green before it rolls. That's one reason I eased up on my chip shots, I had so much trouble getting the right amount of roll. Getting the ball to about 3 feet onto the green I could do (somewhat), but getting the roll after was usually very problematic.


I wouldn't worry nearly as much about the 3 feet as I would about picking a club you like and just learning what it does. Even if the relationship is more like 50-50, as long as you know that's how it works, then you've got a step up on the game. 

Still the most important thing you can do is to pick whatever club you want to start with and PRACTICE with it. Before my course built it's new practice facility, they didn't have a chipping practice area. The other course in the rec district did though, so I used to go over there on my way to a tournament at my course and spend an hour or so just playing chips, pitches and bunker shots. I would often experiment with different clubs, and that's what made me settle on the 2 that I now use exclusively for chipping. It was after I started doing that that I hit my lowest handicap index ever, so I keep it up as a normal part of my pre-tournament routine.


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## Zorba (Jan 5, 2007)

i was having trouble with these shots today. was a bit annoying, but my saving grace was that my little chips from just off the green were going well and my putting was on so instead of chipping on and 2 putting, i was 2 chipping and 1 putting. so i guess it evened out.

my issue today was my tee shots, i rekon i hit one of 14 straight (i didnt finish, took way too long due to groups in front not letting me thru, and i was by myself)


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## Fourputt (Nov 18, 2006)

Zorba said:


> i was having trouble with these shots today. was a bit annoying, but my saving grace was that my little chips from just off the green were going well and my putting was on so instead of chipping on and 2 putting, i was 2 chipping and 1 putting. so i guess it evened out.
> 
> my issue today was my tee shots, i rekon i hit one of 14 straight (i didnt finish, took way too long due to groups in front not letting me thru, and i was by myself)


Something I will often do on those very rare occasions when I'm playing alone is to play 2 balls. I'll use a #1 against a #4 or something similar, and try to play both by the rules. It at least reduces the amount of time spent waiting around.


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## Aeriell (Jan 23, 2007)

For me, I'd want to get the ball up in the air and land softly on the green. This tip helped me and hopefully it will help you as well: Golf Medic | Long and High Shots With a Soft Landing

Just as others have said, Practice, Practice, and more Practice will help the most. Spend a couple of hours in your backyard or on the range practicing with your wedges to help you get a better feel for them. 

Aeriell


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