Chipping with aggressive forward shaft lean

[S17er]

I recently started to struggle with short chip shots from poor lies where loft was needed to cover 2 to 4 yards to get ball to land on green first and stop fairly quickly.


Watched loads of different you tube videos on this and really lost my way trying to work this out.


Went to see the pro for a lesson and he had me hitting these shots (successfully) with a really aggressive forward shaft lean.


Even though this is working it just seems to go against all the things I have heard about not leaning the shaft forward.


I went back to less forward shaft lean and instantly struggled.


This was really getting into my head so last night I chipped 60 balls from a variety of lies and short distances using a standard bounce 54 and high bounce 58 onto the green and only duffed 3 so I feel I should stick with this method even though I still can't convince myself it is what I should be doing.


I guess it is so different from how I hit my preferred 8 iron chip and runs that I am struggling to process it and that fear of fatting it with this method is hard to ignore even though results suggest otherwise!


Rambling a bit but does anyone else chip this way or is the pro teaching me a bad or out of date technique?

 

[Hobbit]

Works fine for me. I've pretty much always done quite an 'aggressive' forward press with the hands for this shot to ensure there's no turf before ball. Obviously it de-lofts the club, turning a wedge into a 7(?) iron. Good enough for low singles figures h'cap and shooting below par rounds...

 

[bobmac]

There are people who are using less shaft lean these days, its just a different technique and can be effective in some situations. However, to have a good all round short game you need more than one shot for all the different situations.

 

[Orikoru]

I don't chip that way. I use the pitching wedge, hold it slightly upright and basically do a sort of putting stroke (so the toe end sweeps the ground & ball but the heel end is very slightly raised). I find the contact pretty consistent with this method, so after that it's just down to me to judge how much power I put on it. Sometimes do it with the 8 iron rather than the PW, if I want less loft.

 

[S17er]

^^^

This is my go to method but was not working for me if the lie was poor or beyond a certain distance.

Still use this if good lie and not far to go.

 

[Capella]

The forward lean assures that you hit the ball before the ground, basically, even if the ball is sitting down in a divot or higher grass or something like that. You also put more spin on the ball that way, so, even though you reduce the loft and the ball seems to skip forward more, you can be quite aggressive with it, because it stops quicker. I use that technique whenever I have the feeling I have to whack the ball out of something, while I normally like to chip using the bounce a bit more (so I do basically the opposite of what S17er does ). I use absolutely no wrist hinge on the shaft forward chips, while I get slightly more flicky on the ones with bounce.

 

[One Planer]

The forward lean assures that you hit the ball before the ground, basically, even if the ball is sitting down in a divot or higher grass or something like that. You also put more spin on the ball that way, so, even though you reduce the loft and the ball seems to skip forward more, you can be quite aggressive with it, because it stops quicker. I use that technique whenever I have the feeling I have to whack the ball out of something, while I normally like to chip using the bounce a bit more (so I do basically the opposite of what S17er does ). I use absolutely no wrist hinge on the shaft forward chips, while I get slightly more flicky on the ones with bounce.

I must be doing something wrong then :smirk:

 

[xcore]

I use hinge and hold to get over any obstacles with my 60, which I guess is the same as chipping with aggressive lean

 

[S17er]

I use hinge and hold to get over any obstacles with my 60, which I guess is the same as chipping with aggressive lean

Yes, what I was shown is like that but pro was more focussed on the hinge and kept saying things like "more lean!"

Think Mickelson uses this method.

It works off tight lies even tho it feels to me like I am just going to stick the blade into the turf and it stops dead chunking the ball.

Mental battles 😞

 

[lex!]

I was taught NOT to have a forward shaft lean and to chip as if I was putting using a lofted club. Take a putting stance and take the club that allows the shortest swing possible to get the ball rolling on the green, taking out any unnecessary wrist and body movement in order to try and avoid a miss hit. Doesn't a forward shaft lean just de-loft the club?

 

[bobmac]

Doesn't a forward shaft lean just de-loft the club?

Yes but a chip is by definition a low running shot

 

[lex!]

Yes but a chip is by definition a low running shot

Yes, so then just use a lower lofted club?

 

[garyinderry]

Nothing wrong with this type of chipping. It just takes some practice and touch to make sure you hit the ball first and not stick the leading edge into the ground.

Having a high bounce wedge will still save you slightly using this method over a low bounce knife like wedge.


The thing to be aware of is the ground conditions. if the ground is super soft then you may want to shy away from this type of shot or at least limit how much shaft lean you use.



It is possible to shallow out the attack angle by having the hands raise up slightly as the club head goes down. This means you can still have plenty of shaft lean but you won't dig so much. Really handy tip once you master it.

 

[bobmac]

Yes, so then just use a lower lofted club?

Having a slight lean in the shaft encourages a slight downwards approach into the ball which reduces the chance of the 'duff' especially out of bad lies

 

[bobmac]

The thing to be aware of is the ground conditions. if the ground is super soft then you may want to shy away from this type of shot or at least limit how much shaft lean you use.

Would you not say that it's easier to take the divot after the ball if the ground is soft?

 

[garyinderry]

Would you not say that it's easier to take the divot after the ball if the ground is soft?

Its not the taking of the divot that is the problem. Its when the ground is sodden, there is little margin for error in using a super aggressive shaft lean.

An extreme lean in dry conditions seems great. The wetter it is the more chance you have of hitting that real stinker of a fat one.

 

[lex!]

Having a slight lean in the shaft encourages a slight downwards approach into the ball which reduces the chance of the 'duff' especially out of bad lies

I have been coached not to do this, not to interact with the ground, as you can have problems, for example with soft ground in winter conditions.

 

[bobmac]

Having a slight lean in the shaft encourages a slight downwards approach into the ball which reduces the chance of the 'duff' especially out of bad lies

Its not the taking of the divot that is the problem. Its when the ground is sodden, there is little margin for error in using a super aggressive shaft lean.

An extreme lean in dry conditions seems great. The wetter it is the more chance you have of hitting that real stinker of a fat one.

I did say a slight lean

As I said in post no.3, you need more than just one shot.

 

[garyinderry]

I did say a slight lean

As I said in post no.3, you need more than just one shot.

This is true but the OP is asking about the merits and disadvantages to using this super aggressive shaft lean.

 

[bobmac]

This is true but the OP is asking about the merits and disadvantages to using this super aggressive shaft lean.

Yes and he was talking about bad lies where a shaft lean would encourage a downward hit which would avoid most of the long grass.

I have been coached not to do this, not to interact with the ground, as you can have problems, for example with soft ground in winter conditions.

So you wouldn't address the ball like this?