November Pro Tip

by Richard Robinson 

Chip Stokes Off Your Score

One skill that can dramatically improve your scoring ability is chipping and short greenside pitches.  To become proficient at these shots involves a variety of  factors such as shot making techniques,  proper club selection, ball type, lie assessment, visualization skill.  However, you can become quite effective if you just strive for a simple repeatable method with the focus on distance control.

Practice chipping a ball to a predetermined spot, preferably on a level portion of the green, marked with a ball marker.  Watch how far the ball runs after landing.  Practice from the same general  greenside position to the same target spot on the green until you are able to chip and roll several balls so the stop at the same spot on the green.   Use this as a gauge for your personal chipping “feel” for the day.   It is a very useful pre round warm up drill, especially during the fall season when green speeds mare vary quite a bit from what you experienced over the summer, due to weather, grass conditions, and green maintenance  factors.  Most players take a few moments to warm up on the green to get their feel for putting.  Do the same for chipping when you can.

In general, chips with a 6 or 7 iron are like putts landing a few feet onto the green and rolling most of the distance to the hole.  If you use a lofted wedge, most players will fly the ball half way to the hole and have it roll the remaining distance.  However, the loft angle of the clubface at impact and the spin characteristics of the ball are key to the result.  Some players choose a lofted wedge but manipulate the club so the actual impact strike is closer to a 7 iron. To optimize your shot and skill learning to control these factors is important.  Nevertheless, merely knowing the way your current technique applies to the conditions on a given day will help you through that particular round.  Often, players will attempt tricky finesse shots that they have not practiced.  The temptation is understandable because the physical motions of such shots are not complicated and thus seem within reach.   Yet the apparent simplicity of greenside shots belies the narrow margin for error in the effective execution.

Choose the shot that is right for you, based on your pre-round practice.  Look for the simplest way to get the ball close to the hole on greenside approaches.   As the great Walter Hagen advised, seek ways to “turn three shots into two“.  If you would like to find more ways to lower your score and manage your game, visit us at The Original Golf School.             

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