Jun
29
2007

What’s Your Favorite Chipping Club?

Posted by Double Eagle in Short Game Tips

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Conventional chipping wisdom says that the best plan of attack in a chipping situation is to use a club that gets the ball on the green rolling like a putt as soon as possible. That means chipping with anything from a pitching wedge to a mid or even long iron. It’s not uncommon to see people chipping with woods when the conditions call for it.

Assuming conditions are right for running the ball, you want to land it a yard or so on the green and let it run. So if you’re just off the green, you might choose a longer iron that will carry less and roll more. If you’re a little further off, then you might want to pick a club that carries further and rolls less.

I’ve known all this for quite some time. But I have a problem: I’m a sand-wedge-chip-aholic.

Whenever I’m in a chipping situation, I automatically reach for my precious 54-degree Cleveland 588 chrome sand wedge. No matter the situation, it’s the first club in my hand. I’ve been that way forever.

I’ve read Dave Pelz’s Short Game Bible cover to cover probably four times (I’m on my fifth read). I’ve read pages upon pages of analysis as to why it’s better to keep the ball as low as possible when chipping for accuracy.

Yet, I feel so much more comfortable chipping with my sand wedge.

It’s something I’ve been trying to change this year. I’ve found that when I use a pitching wedge or other club, my distance control is just abysmal. That’s obviously because my go-to club for years has been my sand wedge and I haven’t practiced any other way.

Tiger Woods, the enabler that he is, says in his book How I Play Golf that it’s OK to favor a certain chipping club. He says that short game artists vary their club to the situation, but that leaning toward a certain club is acceptable. That only feeds my disorder.

Decisions, decisions. Do I listen to possibly the greatest player ever and stick with my sand wedge (ignoring that he also said that the club should be varied when the situation calls for it), or do I listen to a man that I believe to be the best short-game expert ever?

Fine. I’ll listen to the experts and start working on chipping with other clubs right away.

What’s your favorite chipping club?

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There are currently 2 responses to “What’s Your Favorite Chipping Club?”

  1. 1

    Greg Bartz said:

    I have been through this topic before and I revisit it often. There are good arguements to be made for both cases.

    When I chip with the same club all the time, I get confident and comfortable with it. I learn to hit many different types of shots with that one club by varying the swing, club face, shaft angle, and whatever else I can imagine.

    When I chip with many different clubs, I allow the club to control the type of shot with a very similar swing for any chip.

    The problem comes when I try use too much variation with another club. I find I have better distance control when use a consistant swing with clubs other than my main chipping club.

    Some of the best short game players I have played with are masters of the bump and run. One mainly uses an 8 iron and the other uses the pitching wedge. Both are deadly from 30 yards and in.

    -Greg

    Posted on June 29th, 2007 at 11:36 am

  2. 2

    Double Eagle said:

    I have to admit that sometimes I know I made a poor choice after hitting certain shots. It’s one thing to be very proficient with one club, but it’s another thing to have so much confidence in it that I ignore the variables that go into the decision.

    Clearly, flying the ball to a tucked pin on a shelf coming from the rough is going to have a small margin for error. Stopping the ball near the pin is going to be tough. Getting the ball rolling and running it up to the higher tier is something I don’t feel comfortable with because of the feel involved in getting the distance right. That’s a simple matter of practice.

    Posted on June 29th, 2007 at 12:08 pm

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