Even tour pros miss greens every round. Check the latest stats and you’ll see that they miss greens roughly between 30% and 50% of the time. That means that they need a solid short game to have a chance at getting up and down for par. That also means that most of us may miss even more greens each round. Depending on how much we miss greens by, we’re likely to find ourselves in chipping situations a few times every round. Those few strokes can mean the difference between an up and down for par and a bogey or worse.
My chipping has improved a lot this year after I made two improvements that were causing me trouble. First, I was standing too far from the ball. This kept me from being able to just let my arms move freely back and through. I was having to guide the club head at the ball which caused inconsistency. The second thing I did was narrow my stance considerably. I now play chips with my feet almost together (but not all the way), where before I was playing them with my feet several inches apart. With the ball played off the back foot it was difficult to make a nice, crisp, descending blow and I was catching them fat a lot.
My basic chipping technique comes from Dave Pelz’s Short Game Bible. I play the shot standing relatively tall (not hunched over) with my feet almost together and my toes flared about 20 degrees toward the target. Pelz says that about 65% of my weight should be on my left foot, but I think I prefer just a little more. I choke down on the grip and employ the “dead hands grip”. Essentially, I’m using just enough grip pressure to hold on to the club. The ball is fairly close to my feet and about even with my right ankle (it helps to line up the ball before flaring the toes toward the target for a more accurate ball position). My hands start ahead of the ball. From there, I just swing the club back and through using a nice, even tempo, making sure to accelerate through the ball and strike it with a slightly descending blow. My wrists are quiet and firm but not tense.
I typically use a 54 degree sand wedge around the greens in most chipping situations because I feel more comfortable with it. It’s more common, and frankly better practice, to get the ball on the green and rolling as soon as possible, so it’s normal to chip with anything from a wedge up to a 5-iron, depending on how far the ball needs to carry and then how far it needs to roll. With a wedge, there will be more carry and less roll, and the opposite will be true for longer clubs.
If you have trouble with chipping, give this technique a try and I think you’ll see some improvement. Practice with different clubs in different situations to see how the ball reacts and you’ll get a better feel for how to play the shot when the pressure is on.
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I have never been able to to get the hang of the 5-iron chip, although there are times that I want to use.
I will have to give some this advice a try, thanks for the great blog!
-HappyRock
Chipping with clubs like 5-irons is a little delicate with respect to controlling distance but easy to get a handle on with a little practice. The same technique applies. Just take a few preview swings and get a nice feeling of even tempo and a descending blow that brushes the grass through impact. You’ll want to make sure that you’re in a situation where you have a little grass to clear to get on the green, but have a fair amount of distance for the ball to run to get to the flag. Get it rolling like a putt as soon as possible.