Chipping basics: three shots that cover every lie
A low runner, a standard pitch and a soft high shot. Pick between them by reading the ground, not by reaching for the most lofted wedge.
Most amateurs own a dozen ways to chip and trust none of them. You need three: a low runner, a standard pitch, and a soft high shot for when there is no green to work with. Learn to pick between them by reading the ground, not by reaching for the wedge with the biggest number on it.
Pick the shot from the lie and the room you have
Before you choose a club, answer two questions. How much green is there between you and the hole, and what is the ball sitting on? Plenty of green and a clean lie means the ball should spend most of its trip rolling. Almost no green, or a bunker in the way, means it has to fly.
Everything else, including which wedge is in your hand, follows from those two answers.
The low runner, for two thirds of your chips
This is the shot to default to. Take an 8-iron or 9-iron, play the ball back of center, put about 60 percent of your weight on the lead foot, and make a putting-length stroke with the hands slightly ahead. The ball comes out low, lands a yard or two onto the green, and releases to the hole.
It is the shot with the smallest margin of error, because the club never has to work under the ball. Pros use it far more than television shows, and the reason is simple: rolling is easier to judge than flying.
The standard pitch, for a normal 20 yards
Same setup, more loft. A pitching wedge or 52-degree, ball in the middle, a longer swing with the arms and the body turning together. The ball carries roughly half the distance and rolls the rest. This covers the shot you face after missing a green by a normal amount.
The mistake here is deceleration. Pick a landing spot, make a swing that is long enough to get there, and let the loft do the work rather than scooping at impact.
The soft high shot, for when you have nothing to work with
Short-sided, over a bunker, downhill green: now you need height. Open the face of a 56 or 60-degree wedge, widen the stance a touch, and swing along your body line with the face staying open through impact. The ball climbs, lands soft, and does not run far.
Practice this one before you use it. It is the least forgiving shot in the bag and the one most often attempted with no rehearsal.
The landing-spot habit
Amateurs aim at the hole. Better players aim at a spot on the green and let the ball do the rest. Pick a dinner-plate area where you want the first bounce, look at it during your practice swing, then hit it. Distance control improves without any technical change, because you have given your brain a target it can actually judge.
What to work on this week
- Take three balls to the practice green and play each of them with a different club from the same spot. Watch how the roll changes.
- Hit twenty low runners with an 8-iron before you touch a lob wedge.
- Name your landing spot out loud before every chip for one full round.
Two of the three shots above require no new technique, only the decision to use less loft than instinct suggests. Make that decision for a month and your up-and-down rate will move before your swing does.
