Any suggestions on chipping?

Question

I often have problems coming up short on my chips. Anyone have a simple method for the 20-30 yard chip? I have improved on the fringe using my hybrid. So, looking for help on the longer chip shots.

Answer 1

Important to chipping is striking the ball when the club is still traveling downwards.  So first, get the ball plenty far back in your stance.  I'd rather it be a foot too far back than an inch too far forward.  Choke down on the club and get very close to the ball.  Get your feet together-this will naturally make your approach to the ball steeper and make it easier to preset some weight in your front foot.   During your swing, keep your hands very quiet. (wristy is risky)  Good Luck!

Answer 2

look into a 60 degree wedge. They can help you chip as well as help your creativity. I would open the face slightly, and take the club back about 50% of the way and take a normal swing. I still can't get it to stop on a dime, but it only rolls a couple of feet at most. It has helped make putting easier.

If you are looking for one, I recommend titleist spin milled or taylormade. They have made a big difference in my game, as I used to struggle with that exact same shot. But, it still requires plenty of practice.

Answer 3

The short game is the toughest to master (I still am not a master, LOL), but what club pros have taught me is to keep your arms stiff, pick a spot where you want the ball to go and let it rip.... What I practice are chip shots when I put a sponge between my forearms.  This allows me to "grip" the sponge with my forearms and in turn this keeps my arms moving all in one motion...  Since trying this drill, regularly, I have improved as a chipper!

Good luck!

Answer 4

Use a sandwedge and choke up on it. Take a normal swing but only use 30-40% of normal backwing and an open stance.

Make sure your wrist are not breaking. I had a terrible habit of trying to flick my wrists as I approached the ball causing all types of mis-hits

Answer 5

My way is to keep my weight on the left (right handed) and swing with your shoulders rather than the arms or hands. At all times, the hands are ahead of the club head even after impact.

As for solving the problem of coming up short on your chip, you need to know if the hold is uphill/downhill before you choose your club. If its uphill choose an 8 or 7 iron for the job but if its downhill try your wedges. Basic info on the flight/run on your clubs are: Sandwedge - 1 flight distance (FD) = 1 roll distance (RD), pitching wedge - 1 FD = 2 RD. The RD increasing by approx 1 as you move up each club.

Answer 6

try chocking down on the club..

Answer 7

i hit the ball by the shaft the ball goes straight

Answer 8

Only way to get better at it is to practice.  I suggest using a more expensive ball(Nike One Platinum or Black, Callaway HX Tour, Titleist Pro V1, etc).  That way you can either fly the ball all the way to the hole and it will stop or you can hit it low and skip it and stop it.  It can't be done with an inexpensive ball.  They won't stop.

Answer 9

Whole books have been written on this topic.  To perform consistently you need to have a repeatable technique.  this comes from using the large muscles in your back and shoulders and not your arms and wrists.  If you set your hands ahead of the ball and rock your shoulders back and through while maintaining your weight on your left side you will do pretty well.  There are many nuances to this that can be discussed if you are interested.  

A simple answer to your getting your chips closer with the skills you have is to imagine throwing the golf ball underhanded from wherever you are standing to the pin.  This will give you a feeling for how hard to hit the ball.  The next refinement is to imagine throwing it on the trajectory you would like to hit the ball.  

You know that different wedges will give you different trajectories.  Each different club will also roll a different distance after it hits for any given trajectory.  For short chip shots you might expect a pitching wedge to roll twice as far as you hit it in the air.  So, you would want to carry the ball 1/3 of the way to the pin.  You would also want the landing point to be at least 1 yard onto the green so you have some margin and you can get a more predictable bounce and roll.  A sand wedge will roll about as far as you hit it in the air so you want to fly the ball half way to the hole.  

Each club is different and the ration of roll to carry is based upon the way you hit the ball.  If the ball is further back in your stance it will fly lower and roll farther than one that is in the front of your stance.  If you think about it, that would be the same as using a less lofted club with the ball more nearly in the middle of your stance.  

When chipping pretend you are putting.  It really is much like putting with a wedge in your hand.

Answer 10

Use your PW exclusively for a while. The PW has a sharper leading edge and less bounce its also lighter. The 48 deg PW works great for long chips simply choke down a bit make a little swing and watch it work. My best advice for chipping is use whatever club the situation demands. If you got 50ft downhill especially near the cup then its common sense to use a sw to because it puts the brakes on and lets gravity carry it to the hole. I use a 6 iron and choke down to the metal to chip near the green when its uphill this works great and is easier to control than the hybrid chip for me.

So in conclusion use loft when you need it use top spin when you need it and when its a very simple basic chip make it that way and don't get fancy good luck!

Answer 11

what i do is i get ready and i pull my club back and i make the club head hit right down before the ball and then follow through with the swing

if it still comes up short then just swing harder