Chip Shots Do Not Have To Go High

Chip Shots Do Not Have To Go High
Clive Scarff

For some reason, whether it is due to the high loft of shorter clubs or the nature of the shots that make it to the highlight reels on TV, most of us get it in our heads that chip shots are supposed to fly high and land like a butterfly. And as a result, they sting like a bee.

High lofting short shots make it to television's highlight reels for a reason, because they are the exception and not the rule. Once we understand a basic strategy to chipping the task becomes much easier. Almost no two chip shots are alike. Variables in chipping include the lie, the length of the grass, our distance to the edge of the green, the distance from the edge of the green to the hole, and the overall distance from the ball to the hole, and the slope of the green. With all that is inconsistent in the face of our chip shot, we need a constant... something from which we can base decisions on how we are going to execute the shot. We need to create a rule that we will consult, follow - or even disregard when warranted - on each shot. The rule that we shall follow is one that eliminates the guess work in one key area... where to land the ball.

Stop to consider, in the past, your thought process as to where you wanted to land the ball on a chip shot. Chances are you either never gave it a thought, or it has purely been a guessing process based on where the pin was, the slope of the green, perhaps what you had for breakfast. Let's now say that from here on in you will no longer guess where to land the ball. Something just got a whole lot easier. In order to bring consistency to your chipping you will find adopting the strategy of landing the ball at the front of the green and letting it roll to the hole will be a significant milestone.

You can have ten different chip shots that are each, say, 25 feet from ball to hole, yet each is drastically different. One may be five feet to the green and 20 more to the hole. Another maybe 20 feet to the green and just 5 to the hole. And of course there are all the variations in between. Some may be uphill, while others downhill. Some over long rough, or tightly cut fairway. And let's talk about sand! But in each case there will be one thing we can count on. The front of the green. It will always be there. Assuming you are aiming to land the ball at the front of the green, you can begin to picture the shape of the shot that will be required to

a) get you there, and
b) still allow the ball to roll the rest of the way to the hole.

In the case where you have 20 feet to the front of the green and only another 5 to the hole, you will want a higher lofted shot that will keep the ball in the air until it reaches its landing area, and yet not roll terribly far. In our opposite case - 5 to the green and 20 to the hole - it suddenly becomes apparent that a high shot is no longer necessary. Picture a ball flight that will carry 5 feet in the air, yet land at an angle that will lead to 20 feet of roll. The two scenarios will require completely different ball flights, the same swing technique... and different clubs with which to execute the shot.

You have up to (a maximum of) fourteen clubs in your golf bag. Use them. Don't cripple your short game by limiting yourself to just one or two clubs. The typical scenario I see has a player confining himself to the use of wedge-only when chipping. They are simply asking too much of one club for a shot that we have already established is as diverse as the people the game attracts. Limiting yourself to the wedge (or any one or two clubs for that matter) puts you in a situation of having to guess where to land the ball in order for it to get to or remain near the hole in every situation you encounter. Let's go back to the 5 feet to the green yet 20 to the hole situation. Hitting a pitching wedge 5 feet is no chore, but will it then roll 20? Not likely. Hit it ten and roll 15? Mmmmmaybe. But probably not. How about hit it 15 and hope it rolls 10? Perhaps. But 15 is a lot further away than 5 was, so harder to hit accurately. What if I aim for 15 but hit it twenty? Not only have I gone 5 feet too far, but it will roll more too, leaving me a long putt. If it doesn't roll into the bunker, of course. On the other hand, we could just try our eight iron, chip it five feet, and let the ball roll the rest of the way.

I'm not trying to make this sound easier than it is. There is no hard and fast rule as to what club to use, only a rule that says we have the freedom to choose. Picture the shot... picture the ball flying in the air as high as it needs in order to reach the front of the green... then picture it rolling like a putt to the hole. Now picture what club might create such a shot. Chances are you can reasonably narrow it down to a couple of clubs, and neither one is going to be terribly far off. Which two clubs? Only practice will tell. How high and hard you chip an eight iron, versus me or your neighbour down the street, varies.

Clive Scarff is a veteran teaching professional at Bowen Island Golf Ranch near Vancouver BC, and author of the popular golf instruction CD-Rom “Hit Down Dammit!” . Clive can be reached at www.hitdowndammit.com.