Beginners Guide To Chipping
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We exist to help golfers get more out of the game they love. Our team of passionate golfers and experts produce authoritative in-depth reviews of the latest golf equipment to help you buy better, tips and advice to improve your game, ideas for golf courses to play and places to stay and coverage of the game at every level from grassroots up to Tour.
Transcript
00:00 (gentle music)
00:02 Hi, Dan Grieve here, head professional at Woburn Golf Club.
00:07 Here to talk about chipping basics
00:08 so you can get that nice, solid contact every time
00:11 when you're on your fringe lie
00:12 and you have a little bit of green to work with.
00:14 So the good news here is if you do get the setup right,
00:16 you are 90% of the way there to making a good contact.
00:19 Doesn't make a bad shot impossible,
00:21 but it makes it difficult.
00:22 So let's make sure firstly we don't stand too wide.
00:25 Let's trap the center of gravity.
00:27 Let's make our feet really nice and narrow,
00:28 round about one club head apart
00:30 when you're playing a chip and run like this.
00:32 Ball position, just back of center.
00:34 Have a slight forward lean of the shaft,
00:36 so you don't lean it too much,
00:37 just a little bit is all you need.
00:40 And let's make sure the left foot here
00:42 is slightly flared out,
00:43 which is gonna allow you to put your pivot line,
00:45 your weight running from your left foot
00:48 through your knee, through hip into your shoulders.
00:49 So you set that pivot line,
00:51 that's the line in which you're going to rotate around.
00:54 It's also important that we make sure
00:55 the left wrist here is nice and flat.
00:58 We don't wanna get too far away
00:59 and start to create an angle here,
01:00 because this angle is likely to create too much wrist action.
01:04 For a chip and run, we're trying to take the wrists out.
01:06 So nice and close to the ball,
01:07 and let's make sure this is nice and flat.
01:09 Also, your shoulders need to be level.
01:12 We don't wanna get too much tilt.
01:13 Let's save that for the long game.
01:14 So nice and level in the way in which
01:16 you approach it with the shoulders.
01:17 And if you get all those ingredients right,
01:19 add a slightly lighter grip as well.
01:21 Most people grip it way too tight when they chip.
01:23 You're in a good position to hit a nice running chip shot.
01:26 Make a nice contact and get that ball
01:28 running close to the pin.
01:30 And one of the lost arts in chipping
01:31 is the ability to actually change your club
01:33 to change how the ball runs out.
01:35 So I'm never a great fan of players
01:37 sticking to the same club all the time around the greens,
01:39 because you end up having to hit the ball
01:41 so much harder to get the ball to the green.
01:43 If you can just have this one chipping technique
01:45 and change the club in your hand
01:47 to let the ball react differently,
01:48 that's a much easier way of getting
01:50 the ball closer to the pin.
01:51 So for example, I put a towel down on the green,
01:54 a third of the way on,
01:56 and there's two thirds between there and the hole.
01:58 So what I'm gonna try and do
01:59 is land the ball next to that towel
02:01 and see if I can get it to run two thirds of the way out.
02:03 So nine iron in my hand here,
02:05 normal chipping technique,
02:07 land it by the towel,
02:09 and you can see how that ball's running out
02:10 close to the pin.
02:12 Now, if I have other options,
02:14 I mean, that's obviously a good choice there,
02:16 but if I wanted to get that ball on the ground
02:18 a little bit sooner and run out,
02:19 I've got my seven iron in my hand.
02:21 Now a seven iron is around about a 25% carry
02:24 and a 75% roll.
02:25 So I need to bring my target back
02:28 or I'd like to land the ball.
02:29 So you'll see this land a little shorter,
02:31 but the speed will be greater in the ball.
02:34 And you can see how that ball is now running out
02:36 more towards the pin.
02:38 So another good option.
02:40 Okay, there's not particularly one way to do it,
02:41 it's what you're most comfortable with,
02:43 but I think generally,
02:44 if you end up using straighter face clubs,
02:46 you're gonna get a lot more joy.
02:48 So I've now got a 56 degrees,
02:49 this hand wedge in my hand,
02:51 and really I'm looking at carrying this
02:52 around about 75% of the way.
02:54 So it's much more in the air.
02:56 So it won't run that far at the other end.
02:58 So you can see how that is spinning more
03:01 and not running as much.
03:02 So I've just shown those three different ways to chip
03:04 with three different clubs.
03:06 And it's up to you to find out
03:07 which you're most consistent with,
03:09 but I really would try and encourage you
03:10 to get the ball on the green and running as soon as you can.
03:13 So one final point,
03:14 I do recommend that you do use the same golf ball
03:16 that you practice with, that you play with.
03:18 It just makes sense.
03:19 You can get the same feel
03:20 that you'll be able to take to the golf course.
03:21 So I use the Atelier Maite TP5.
03:23 I feel like it's really soft
03:25 and it gives me that touch around the greens,
03:26 but go out there, have a ball fitting with your local pro,
03:28 see what's best for you.
03:29 And yeah, make sure you have that consistency
03:31 in what you practice with and what you play with.
03:34 (gentle music)
03:36 (gentle music)
03:39 (upbeat music)