Short Game-Chipping

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Nov

22

2009

Short Game-Chipping

Written by Kevin

Short Game: Chipping Short game lacking? Never sure what club to chip with or where to land it? There are lots of theories and techniques out there that will help you, but here are a couple of things that might help now. All it takes is a little basic math, and a little practice. It all has to do with the ration between flight "carry" and ball "roll".

I'm not a golf instructor, but from what I've learned in various places, when chipping the ideal situation is to have your ball land approximately 1 pace onto the green and let it roll from there to the pin. The idea is that the more roll you have, and the less flight, the easier it is to control where the ball is going. How many times have you used a sand or lob wedge and come up too short, or have flown the pin and ended up too long? If you're a mid to high handicapper like me, I'd bet it happens quite a bit.

Your goal, as stated above, is to land your ball approximately 1 pace onto the green (approximately 1 yard). It doesn't matter how close to or how far from the green you are, this is your goal. Initially you'll want to pace off the distance from your ball to your landing area, and from the landing area to the pin. Once you get the hang of it, you can eyeball the distances and make an educated guess. When determining the landing area, make sure you take into consideration breaks in the green, etc.

Assuming it's a flat green:

Carry:Roll ratio:

1. Pace off the distance from your ball to your landing spot on the green.
2. Then pace off the distance from your landing spot to the pin.
3. This will give you the ration of carry to roll, i.e. #1 to #2
4. Use the following guide based on the ratio you come up with:
    a. 2:1    Lob/Sand Wedge
    b. 1:1    Pitching Wedge
    c. 1:2    9 Iron
    d. 1:3    8 Iron
    e. 1:4    7 Iron

Some examples:

1. If the distance between your ball and your land spot is 2 paces, and the distance between the landing spot and the pin is also 2 paces, that would be 2:2, or 1:1 and you'd use a pitching wedge. 1 part carry and 1 part roll.
2. If the ball is 2 paces from the landing spot, and the pin is 4 paces from the landing spot, that's 2:2, or 1:2 and you'd use a 9 iron. 1 part carry, and two parts roll.

Remember to also adjust your club selection based on the slope of the green. If it's uphill, you'll want to drop down a club...downhill, go up a club.

Another way to do it:

The Rule of 12:

This is a very popular way of determining which club you should use when chipping and is similar to the above. Rather than go into my own detail on how to use it, I found this simple and excellent explanation on another website and have copied and pasted it below. It goes on the assumption that you start off with the number 12, and number your irons from 11 down, with 11 being the Sand Wedge, 10 the Pitching Wedge, number 9 the nine iron, etc.

The rule of 12 is a simple way to determine the correct club to chip with.

Steps:

1. Play your chip shot to land on the surface of the green 3 feet from the edge.
2. Pace off from your ball to the landing spot on the surface of the green.
3. Pace off from the landing area to the cup.
4. Divide the "roll" paces by the "carry" paces.
5. Subtract this number from 12 to determine the club to chip with.

Example

a. Paces from the ball to the landing spot is 5.
b. Paces from the landing spot to the cup is 20.
c. 20 divided by 5 is 4.
d. 12 minus 4 is 8.
e. Use the 8 iron.

More information:

1. 12-1 = 11    Sand Wedge
2. 12-2 = 10    Pitching Wedge
3. 12-3 = 9      9 Iron
4. 12-4 = 8      8 Iron

If the chip shot is uphill, add 1 or more clubs depending on the uphill slope.
If the chip shot is downhill, subtract 1 or more clubs depending on the downhill slope.

I also found this video which shows you examples of how to use the Rule of 12: Click here

Kevin
Roseville, CA

Tags:

Last Updated on Sunday, 22 November 2009 22:55

Comments

0 #1 Jr 2009-11-23 12:54

Ok I have seen the "rule of twelves" in action. For some it would work perfectly. For me (11-12 handicap)not so great. Puts entirely to much though into the shot and would require me to carry to many clubs for a short chip shot. I have had good success with a SW or chipper. I prefer a more lofted club and attempt to land it closer to the pin with less release. Not saying the "rule of twelves" doesnt work. Just think using a lofted club for all of your shots 80 yards and in would make the swing much more consistent. Just my two cents.

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0 #2 Kevin Smith 2009-11-23 14:16

Na...the rule of twelve works great as long as you are able to accurately hit your "landing spot". I tried it for a little while and it was working great, then for some reason strayed away from it. I'm going to be trying this technique again. Using one club is fine, and I've done it (SW), but I always tend to come up short.

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