Chipping: three shots that cover every lie
A low runner, a standard pitch and a high soft shot, plus what to do about spring greens that will not hold.
With a season that runs from May to October in most of the country, nobody has time to own ten different chip shots. Three cover almost everything: the low runner, the standard pitch and the high soft shot for when there is genuinely no room.
Two questions before you pick a club
How much green is there between you and the flag, and what is the ball sitting on? Plenty of green and a clean lie means the ball should roll. Almost no green, or a bunker in the way, means it has to fly. The club follows from the answers rather than from habit.
In spring, on greens that have just come out from under snow cover, the ball checks less than you expect and the surface is slower than it looks. Both push you toward the running shot.
The low runner, your default
An 8-iron or 9-iron, ball just back of centre, weight favouring the front foot, a stroke about the length of a putt with the hands slightly ahead. The ball comes out low, lands a yard or two onto the green and releases to the hole. The clubhead never has to work under the ball, which is why it forgives the most.
The standard pitch, around twenty yards
Pitching wedge or 52 degrees, ball in the middle, arms and body turning together. The ball carries half the distance and runs the rest. The usual fault is deceleration: pick a landing spot, make a stroke long enough to reach it, and let the loft do the work.
The high soft shot, for no room at all
Short-sided, bunker to carry, green falling away: open the face of a 56 or 60 degree wedge, widen the stance slightly and swing along the body line with the face staying open. It is the least forgiving shot in the bag and the one most often attempted without rehearsal.
The landing-spot habit
Amateurs aim at the flag. Better players aim at a spot the size of a dinner plate, look at it during the practice swing, then hit it. Distance control improves with no technical change, because the brain finally has a target it can judge.
Where to work on it in winter
From November to April, indoor domes and simulator facilities in most Canadian cities let you keep the strike alive, but almost none of them let you practise a real chip onto a real green. Any carpeted space at home will do for the low runner: the stroke is short, the club is an 8-iron, and twenty repetitions a week is enough to start April where you finished October.
What to work on this week
- Three balls from the same spot with three different clubs. Watch the run change.
- Twenty low runners with an 8-iron before the lob wedge comes out.
- Name your landing spot out loud before every chip for a full round.
Two of these three shots need no new technique, only the decision to take less loft than instinct suggests.
