# Green side chipping



## tsped83 (Jul 9, 2014)

Struggling at the moment with greenside chips, where I need to go over a hump or bump, but only a few yards off the green. I tend to use my 56â€™ wedge if there is something to go over, or up on to an elevated green, but of late Iâ€™m getting a rubbish contact with the ball.

One of two things can happen, firstly, and the most infuriating, I fluff it and the balls goes about 3ft. Epic. The other undesirable, which is more common, is a thin contact which doesnâ€™t get the height and stop required but goes too flat and too far.

Iâ€™ve watched a few YouTube vids and am consciously working on my setup, ball in the centre, weight slightly forward etc, but if anyone can assist with some general pointers, much appreciated.

Cheers!


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## One Planer (Jul 9, 2014)

Can you advise how you approach the shot?

Do you pick a landing zone where you want the ball to land?

Do you always reach for your 56Â°?

Are your expectations realistic (Sounds daft but I know folk who play Srixon distance balls and expect greenside check  )?

Can you describe your set up and motion through the stroke?

How you position the weight at set up?

Do you have any forward shaft lean?

Where do you position the ball in your stance?


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## Foxholer (Jul 9, 2014)

The most common reason that I screw these shots up is the dreaded 'watching where the ball is going'! Fluffs and thins are often the result! Overcome (mainly) by ensuring I am watching where the ball was after the strike - which has to be 'committed'! A reasonably short back-swing helps me avoid decelerating too.

I only use 56 from longish rough as too much bounce for my sweeper/slider style off shorter stuff. Same discipline applies to 52 though, or even up to 8-iron if playing it along the ground.


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## One Planer (Jul 9, 2014)

Foxholer said:



			I only use 56 from longish rough as too much bounce for my sweeper/slider style off shorter stuff. Same discipline applies to 52 though, or even up to 8-iron if playing it along the ground.
		
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I was just going to say in my post.

For the shot the OP describes, I'll use a pitching wedge or a 9 iron and they have enough loft to lift the ball over the obstacle and ensure the right amount of run.

The only time I'll take more loft is if the ball is sat down or a heavy lie.


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## CMAC (Jul 9, 2014)

do this with the 56* as it has decent bounce

ball in centre of stance, weight even

no shaft lean, shaft level-ish with ball

smooth swing with natural wrist break

swing plane should not be outside the 'plane' the shaft is making at address (be careful not to pull it way inside either)

head still and *only* look after connection:thup:


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## tsped83 (Jul 9, 2014)

Gareth said:



			Can you advise how you approach the shot?

Do you pick a landing zone where you want the ball to land?

Do you always reach for your 56Â°?

Are your expectations realistic (Sounds daft but I know folk who play Srixon distance balls and expect greenside check  )?

Can you describe your set up and motion through the stroke?

How you position the weight at set up?

Do you have any forward shaft lean?

Where do you position the ball in your stance?
		
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Gareth there are a lot of questions there. 

1. Don't pick a landing zone but have a good idea of where I feel I want the ball to land.
2. If I need to go up and over something and land quickly, then yes, 56'.
3. Yes I'm realistic, I play titleist velocity and am not expecting backspin at all, this is more about contact than stopping power.
4. Normal stance, slightly narrower with the feet, weight slightly forward.
5. Small amount of shaft lean, try to be neutral as possible.
6. As per OP, ball in centre.


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## lex! (Jul 9, 2014)

I also use 56 for this shot.
Mine have been going quite well recently, but I also used to suffer from the thin that OP describes.
My pro told me to keep the wrists out of it. Just use big muscles, use small swing and rock the shoulders, use the loft on the club that the manufacturer has provided. Make sure its an accelerating blow, using natural pendulum effect.
The feeling he told me for this and also longer pitches is to try and feel like the body is making the shot, not wrists and arms.


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## tsped83 (Jul 9, 2014)

Foxholer said:



			The most common reason that I screw these shots up is the dreaded 'watching where the ball is going'! Fluffs and thins are often the result! Overcome (mainly) by ensuring I am watching where the ball was after the strike - which has to be 'committed'! A reasonably short back-swing helps me avoid decelerating too.

I only use 56 from longish rough as too much bounce for my sweeper/slider style off shorter stuff. Same discipline applies to 52 though, or even up to 8-iron if playing it along the ground.
		
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I can identify with this mate, looking up to quickly I'm prone to do.


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## Val (Jul 9, 2014)

I suffered this big time, bought a v-easy and it was instantly apparent i was very wristy so...............

No wrists, head down, trust the loft and very important............. commit to the shot.

A v-easy is a good purchase for this very thing


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## garyinderry (Jul 9, 2014)

you are all nuts!     Bounce bounce bounce bounce bounce! 


it doesn't really bounce.  it SLIDES under the ball popping it up.    don't make these shots harder than they have to be.  if fact don't even make contact with the ball first.   utilise the bounce and then the club makes contact with the ball.  


you can use writsts, no wrists, whatever you like. just get that bounce interacting wit the turf properly. 


I don't think I can stress how easy this is.   don't make life difficult for yourself. 


tsped83-- what is the bounce angle of your wedge?


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## tsped83 (Jul 9, 2014)

garyinderry said:



			you are all nuts!     Bounce bounce bounce bounce bounce! 


it doesn't really bounce.  it SLIDES under the ball popping it up.    don't make these shots harder than they have to be.  if fact don't even make contact with the ball first.   utilise the bounce and then the club makes contact with the ball.  


you can use writsts, no wrists, whatever you like. just get that bounce interacting wit the turf properly. 


I don't think I can stress how easy this is.   don't make life difficult for yourself. 


tsped83-- what is the bounce angle of your wedge?
		
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Not sure? I'm gonna say 10/12 on the 56 I think? How does the bounce help on a tight lie though?


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## garyinderry (Jul 9, 2014)

that plenty.   


this line *"it doesn't really bounce. it SLIDES under the ball popping it up"*     bounce is a misleading term.


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## garyinderry (Jul 9, 2014)

tsped83 said:



			Not sure? I'm gonna say 10/12 on the 56 I think? How does the bounce help on a tight lie though?
		
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 video later showing me chipping with a 60 wedge 10 degrees of bounce off a tight lie on a carpet in my house.  Im hitting an inch or two behind the ball (in other words, fat).   I purposely put the ball on the brown bit of carpet. the club is bottoming out on the cream. 

:thup:

[video=youtube;09-cspmW3_I]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09-cspmW3_I&feature=youtu.be[/video]


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## la_lucha (Jul 9, 2014)

I used to fluff this kind of shot when my backswing was too long and I was decelerating through the ball. Could be worth trying a shorter backswing?


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## tsped83 (Jul 9, 2014)

garyinderry said:



			video later showing me chipping with a 60 wedge 10 degrees of bounce off a tight lie on a carpet in my house.  Im hitting an inch or two behind the ball (in other words, fat).   I purposely put the ball on the brown bit of carpet. the club is bottoming out on the cream. 

:thup:

[video=youtube;09-cspmW3_I]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09-cspmW3_I&feature=youtu.be[/video]
		
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Nice pants.


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## London mike 61 (Jul 9, 2014)

See if this video is any help;

http://m.videojug.com/film/golf-how-to-improve-your-uphill-chipping-technique


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## the_coach (Jul 9, 2014)

tsped83 said:



			but of late Iâ€™m getting a rubbish contact with the ball.
  One of two things can happen, firstly, and the most infuriating, I fluff it and the balls goes about 3ft. Epic. The other undesirable, which is more common, is a thin contact which doesnâ€™t get the height and stop required but goes too flat and too far.
		
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The two seemingly different results, fats & thins, coming from the same issue.

When you're chipping, your action is putting the low point of the arc a ways behind the ball, so either the leading edge digs in so ground first, fat. (your fluff) 
Or the low point is still before the club gets to ball but you're coming up (either in posture or because there's no real chest rotation that stops the arms so the right hand flips upwards through impact, palm of right hand working to the sky, or both these things are happening) so the club from behind the ball is on an upwards path & presents the leading edge to the ball, so thins. Get that a good ways 'up' with hands action & up out of posture too & you can even top a chip.

If you're definitely setting up as you list, then the issue is in the action.

Haven't seen what happens with you, but generally these issues stem from a couple of things. 

The main being that the chipping action, so engine for generating the motion is coming from the arms, wrists/hands alone, disconnected as there's little or no chest rotation combined with most likely a coming up out of posture angles just prior to impact. 

As the chest/shoulders aren't rotating through the shot with connected arms & quiet hands, the chest rotation being the 'engine' giving the length back & through of a smooth stroke with shallow swing arc. Arms/hands alone tend to unwanted wrist action & a steep up & down more linear club path with too many variables, the intended or unintended wrist action is way too unreliable way to get consistent contact so any kind of knowledge of consistent distance control either.

{Anytime the chest/upper body stops rotation in a full swing or isn't really taking place at all in a small chipping/pitching action it has the effect of putting the brakes on the arms, so resulting in the right hand flipping upwards a little ways before impact, so depends where the low point of that particular swing is,as to whether there's fats, thins or tops.}

Good chipping motion is/should be controlled by a steady chest rotation back & through with connected arms & quiet hands, in a chip the hands really do nothing except hold the handle on it's journey. All this over a solid leg base weight on lead leg, with a quiet head, staying in posture throughout, holding the finish in posture, club pointing towards target, but end of the club pointing to navel area, chest having turned through.

Don't need wrist action as we're not looking for extra distance (or height as in a pitch), the chest rotation provides more than enough energy/speed through the ball, so it's just a matter of combining this rotary motion conneted with different arm lengths that will provide consistent distances for those different length swings. So it becomes something you can control & learn through practice over time.

With chest rotary motion controlling length of connected arm swing/quiet hands, if you're say 4 feet from the green & land the ball on the green at the same area 4 feet on the green, that same swing motion would provide different roll out lengths. Repeating that same swing motion & length with a PW, 9i, 8i, 6i etc, say the PW to a nearer pin, 6i would rollout further from the same landing spot to a pin across the green much further away, but they both landed first at around the same spot.

As you have some controlled uniformity to stroke it becomes a good ways easier to become accustomed to this distance control through practice overtime. 

Have a look at this, both set-up & also paying particular attention to how the handle end of the club is moving back & through & that it's movement is controlled by the chest(shoulder) rotation with a constant smooth speed throughout (no hit at, so the arm triangle remains unchanged throughout the stroke, as it moves connected with the chest rotation) plus at the end it's still a balanced finish in posture. (check the dtl view at the end to see the posture is kept & the swing club towards target position held until the ball is well on it's way, the head just swiveling after impact for the eyes to follow the ball)

[video=youtube_share;ijSB37X5GNA]http://youtu.be/ijSB37X5GNA[/video]


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## tsped83 (Jul 9, 2014)

That vid was very helpful, cheers coach.


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## Billythefish (Jul 9, 2014)

This is the one shot (the one and only) I have always been able to play well.  Best advice for me, is to use your putting stroke on this shot...


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## HomerJSimpson (Jul 9, 2014)

I had real issues with chipping. It was crucifying my game. I ended up going to the linear method. https://uk.video.search.yahoo.com/v...c7cj&sigt=11ibl888k&age=0&fr=yfp-t-302-s&tt=b

Its an acquired taste but with practice it really does work. However let me also reassure you, that I am now chipping conventionally and with far more effect after two years in the short game wilderness. It can be done. I would suggest a short game lesson with a good local PGA pro, clear your head of the porridge and then work at it regularly and often.


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## garyinderry (Jul 9, 2014)

tsped83 said:



			Nice pants.
		
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thanks. it was winter time! lol.


the video just show exactly how easy it is to play off a tight lie using the bounce.  it is an absolute piece of piss.    on the course, I love nothing more than a chip off a nice tight lie.  sit the club about half an inch behind the ball. pop it up lovely and soft.

when I see people thinning wedges and hitting fat wedges 1 yard, I feel like pulling my hair out.  no wonder I am going light up top!


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## One Planer (Jul 9, 2014)

garyinderry said:



			thanks. it was winter time! lol.


the video just show exactly how easy it is to play off a tight lie using the bounce.  it is an absolute piece of piss.    on the course, I love nothing more than a chip off a nice tight lie.  sit the club about half an inch behind the ball. pop it up lovely and soft.

when I see people thinning wedges and hitting fat wedges 1 yard, I feel like pulling my hair out.  no wonder I am going light up top! 

Click to expand...

Does the technique still work when the ground is soft?


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## garyinderry (Jul 9, 2014)

Gareth said:



			Does the technique still work when the ground is soft?
		
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when the ground is soft you want as much bounce on there as poss.   it will prevent it from digging.    as you know yourself, when its uber soft, there will always be a bit of a divot. the more you use the bounce the better though.  keep that leading edge from digging in.


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## the_coach (Jul 9, 2014)

Re- 'bounce', it's also one of the problems folks have if they are handsy, & have a wrist break in takeaway, as that picks up the clubhead up a good ways to steep without moving the handle overmuch away from it's original address position.

So coming back down they're presenting the leading edge of the club, so even if there's a good degree of bounce on the club it won't really save them overmuch from the club digging in. & as has been said already if the grounds soft there's much more of a tendency for that leading edge to bite & dig some, so the ball gets chunked nowhere.

To have a good chipping action, the clubhead's arc has to be shallow, both in the takeaway & the return back through impact. That's also one of the reasons why the motion should be powered by a constant chest/upper body rotation with connected arms plus quiet hands. As well as that being a much more reliable way to regulate tempo, rhythm & length of the swing to give much more consistent control over the distance the ball then travels.


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## garyinderry (Jul 9, 2014)

nowt wrong with a wrist break going back.   it doesn't hurt big philbert!  

[video=youtube;q4DevROGzXM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4DevROGzXM&feature=kp[/video]


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## the_coach (Jul 10, 2014)

It has recently  But not everyone has his skill levels to begin with. Wrist action in chipping will do damage to majority of ams short games, why most get down in 3 or more, not 2


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## garyinderry (Jul 10, 2014)

I certainly wouldn't rule anything out.  learn how to chip using wrists, quiet wrists.  its all a means to an end.   


if any you want any more proof on using bounce for little soft checking shots then here is the main man butch.  listen from 1.10.  "hit an inch behind the ball"   

[video=youtube;Cm0Gc2rTHVg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cm0Gc2rTHVg[/video]


it couldn't be any simpler!


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## the_coach (Jul 10, 2014)

Ordinary chips (so not looking for height or not coming out of thickish rough) with a good deal of hand action requires a high degree of skill level to get consistent results as the action has to involve a good ways more timing of the wrist movement to get repeat solid contact back at impact. 

If someone can naturally do that & get repeated good results, then all good. 
Really very few folks can, which is why folks have trouble with this part of the game, hence the original question & the many similar questions on this site,  all with similar chipping problems, issues & inconsistent results with their short games.

If with that wristy movement the timing is a little ways out, & it's also much more difficult to time given the shorter length of swing & time available through that short stroke to get the wrists consistently back in the right position, then it's a good ways easier to hit fats or thins. 
It's much harder to chip this way, it's much easier to get consistent results from a quiet hands with arms & chest rotation connected motion.

If the bounce comment aimed my way, you'll see from what I said, that bounce is important. 

But what I was referring to, was that in a very handsy set motion, from takeaway it means there's a large degree of steep pick-up of the clubhead. Has to be, just hold the arms still, set the wrists & the club head moves upwards a good distance for what seems a small wrist movement.
So then the as the clubhead is moving a good ways upwards as a result of the hand action, also & very importantly the handle moves very little from it's original address position with this kind of chipping hand action motion. 

So that on it's way back to impact, what then usually happens as the handle hasn't moved any much is that the clubhead then mostly moves downwards but not much in a forwards direction to the ball as the handle isn't moving forwards. 
This as the hand action is more of just the right wrist returning to being straight which mostly just moves the clubhead a ways downwards from a position that's too far above the ground. Too much downwards movement of the clubhead & not enough forwards movement. (not what you need, you have to retain a degree of right wrist flex to impact, just as you would in a full swing so that the left wrist is flat through impact, so solid contact ball first ground second at best, or at the same time with the shallower AoA allowing the use of the 'bounce')

But this oversteep handsy motion instead just dumps the leading edge (as that is the forwards most part of the club being presented to the ball with these movements) straight in the ground behind the ball, so the bounce never gets chance to 'work' any.

If the golfer has this happen a good few times but doesn't realize its down to the handsy action so thats repeated. 

Then sometimes on return to the ball as a compensatory move to burying the leading edge into the ground, they will then flip the wrists, right palm skywards, so the leading edge is then presented straightways into the back of the ball & they knife it, as again any 'bounce' the club may have doesn't have chance to work as it would with a shallower approach angle.


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## bobmac (Jul 10, 2014)

Duffing and thinning are the result of trying to 'help' the ball into the air.
Causes could be 
ball too far forward
flicking the hands 
leaning away from the target.

Here's a drill that many have enjoyed.......

Set up
Very narrow stance
ball an inch inside the front foot
weight and hands forward a touch
hold the club at the bottom of the grip. 

Aim
to hit the ball UNDER the shaft with a swing that has a LONGER FOLLOWTHROUGH THAN BACKSWING.

If you get it right, the ball will go OVER the shaft.

As long as you try and hit the ball DOWN with a stroke that isnt slowing down at impact, the ball will go up

[video=youtube;NA8aMPqdmbY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NA8aMPqdmbY[/video]

This will help with the longer chips/pitches


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## bobmac (Jul 10, 2014)

If you want to keep it low, select a 7/8/9 iron for example, and use your putting stroke

[video=youtube;yS8LNuMopZo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yS8LNuMopZo[/video]


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## garyinderry (Jul 10, 2014)

the_coach said:



			If the bounce comment aimed my way, you'll see from what I said, that bounce is important. 

.
		
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no it wasn't aimed at you.  you know exactly how it works.   it was more aimed at anyone that has never had the pleasure of trying to hit an inch behind the ball and was amazed at how the club slips in under the ball.    

no helping it up, no leaning back.   just slips in and pops higher and lands softer than any other way.  all off a reasonable tight lie using bounce that was touted as being counterproductive in these conditions.


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## Chrisb83 (Jul 10, 2014)

I know you said you'd looked at youtube but this Video really helped me.

Skip to to 1 minute in and he finally gets onto chipping


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## London mike 61 (Jul 10, 2014)

I went over the range this afternoon to try out what bobmac and the coach said about stance and the chipping motion, well, it was a great success .

The ball contact off the mat was great and even the small pitches were spot on, the only issue I had was despite lining myself up to a target , the ball nearly always went left of target.

After a while I weakened my grip with the thumb of the left hand directly down the centre of the shaft and the right hand felt as if it were on top of the shaft.
i then had to take a practice swing every time to make sure the club face did not close on me and remain open as it was at address.

I tried this with the sand iron, pitching wedge and gap wedge and I was amazed that I could use the bounce of the club so efficiently, brill. :thup:

It still wasn't perfect but I'm getting there.


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