Lesson #5

Chipping Drill

 Practicing chipping in your back yard is always fun and cheep when you are doing it right by going to small targets like a makeshift flag, towel, or bucket.  One of the first things to remember is to concentrate on only the landing spot, not what the ball does after because the inconsistencies in your back yard's grass will be different from a courses grass and greens.

Always use the "no hands" chip when ever possible.  Meaning that if you have the room to land the ball in a reasonable clean spot that will get you a consistent roll (like the green/fringe or nice fairway) then use it. You will be happier with the results.

I use this formula to help me chip:

                            SW      =         2/3    and     1/3
                            PW      =       Half   and    Half
                            7-Iron  =        1/3    and     2/3

This means that a pitching wedge chipped without the hands and arms and just using your shoulders (as in a putt) will fly the ball the same distance then it will run (on a normal flat surface). The seven-iron will throw the ball one third the distance in the air, and run the ball two thirds the rest of the way.

Practicing these 2 clubs varying the distances and this will grant you 85% of all the work needed to get the ball close to any hole. The rest is going to be the special SW, or 5I work. Key to remember is that you want to use the club that gets you to land the ball closest to YOU as possible = Minimum flight, and maximum roll. Take 10 balls and try each club at each distance and you will discover which one you were able to consistently able to repeat.  The shorter you can make you swing, the better you are going to be able to repeat that stroke and the closer you are going to get the ball to the hole.