Tag: chipping

I usually have more experience with a method before I write about it, but we are having a more normal winter here in Western Pennsylvania and playing golf is definitely on the backburner. At the end of February last year, I had played 10 rounds of golf. In 2023 I played 8 rounds. So far this year I have played 9 holes, and it does not look like I will be playing the rest of this month. I started using this method toward the end of last year, so I think I have been doing this for about 5 rounds. I have battled the chip yips for about 5 years with having good spells and bad spells but mostly bad spells. This change in chipping is not so much a change in technique but a change in chipping philosophy which goes against the grain of most chipping instruction. The basic philosophy of chipping has always been minimum air time and maximum ground time. All the great short game players have advocated this method.

One of the debates in chipping has been whether to use different clubs depending on the shot you are trying to hit or use just one club like a lob or sand wedge, manipulating the head open or closed and changing ball position, depending on the type of shot you are trying to hit. I use strictly my sand wedge now for all chip shots. However, I do not manipulate the club, because I hit every shot the same, no matter what the situation. The one exception is if I have to hit a really high shot, I will open the face to increase the loft of the club. I would have to do this eventually if I used a lob wedge instead. With the 56-degree sand wedge I hit every chip shot basically the same which is high. If I have a chip shot that is just off the green 3 or 4 yards and I have a lot of green to work with I do not hit the low chip that just lands on the green and runs up to hole. Using the sand wedge’s normal loft, I will hit a high shot short of the pin and let it roll from this point. I see many advantages of using the high method even when it is not necessary. You are hitting one type of shot for every chip. The technique is the same for every shot. The difference is how hard are you going to hit the ball to fly to a spot short of the hole. The other advantage on longer chips, where the ball is off the green by 5 to 10 yards and you have more than 50 feet of green to work with is you do not have to be reading the green for all that roll. I can’t tell you how many times that I have hit a long chip, and the ball has gone in a different direction than I thought it would because I read the green wrong. By hitting a high chip, you only have to know what the ball is going to do about 15 to 20 feet short of the hole depending on the conditions of the green. This has simplified my process greatly. In the world of riding cart golf, I always take the same club out of my bag for every shot around the green. By sticking to the same technique, at least so far, I have not had near the problems with the yips, and if I do yip, the shot still turns out better than my old yip chips. This method particular helps in longer grass around the green where a less lofted club may have a tendency to get caught up in the rough.

I have not used this method for that many rounds and eventually it may go by the wayside by the 9th or 10th round this year. Even though this is a small sample size I feel it has helped me shoot better scores. If your short game is solid then naturally I would continue what you are doing. If you are having problems even if it is not the chip yips but just not getting it up a down that often when just off the green, then I would give the high shot method a try. As we finally get into the golf season I will keep you posted on how I am doing around the greens.