Short-sided chip shots. What to do?

Hi, very high handicapper here.

One of the toughest shots for me is chipping from the rough to a pin that is very close to the edge of the green. I just don't know how to tackle this shot.

I can never putt it because the rough is usually too thick, and sometimes the shot is uphill. Trying a short chip is tough too because a lot of times the ball won't carry the rough, and will just stop dead in there before even reaching the fringe. What normally happens is I end up blasting it way by the pin (a lot farther than intended) and making 2 or 3 putts, killing my score.

Right now I carry a 52* and 56* wedge in my bag. I've thought about adding a 60* specifically for short-sided chips like these. Would that help with these shots, or can I do something with the clubs I already have?

Willing to take any advice (I guess the best would be to not put myself into these chipping situations to begin with).

Best advice...

1. Don't short side yourself
2. Open face and use bounce of the 56
3. Don't short side on a tight bare lie

You must open up the face of the club and use the bounce of the club and make sure you don't think it. I like to hear it "thump" the ground. Almost like a mini-bunker shot. When I say open, I mean open, like 30+ degrees.

Also, don't try to get cute with it. 15' by the pin is a lot better than leaving it in the rough for another short-sided shot.

I'm hoping this means you have practiced this shot at the range and not just during rounds.

There are 2 ways I play this shot, and it depends on the lie:

If the ball is sitting down, then it's open faced and just use the bounce to get the ball up in the air and land softly. I'm not trying to make contact with the ball, rather hitting it fat with some force to blast it out almost like a bunker shot with no wrist hinge.

If the ball is sitting up, I will just putt it with a PW.

You mention that you are a "very high handicapper". You probably don't have this shot in your bag, no matter what club you have in your hand. Don't even try it, with any club. Use a club you can hit onto the "green". Close to flag does NOT matter. Save yourself some strokes and aim for the green, not the hole. Take your medicine for short siding yourself. Don't try the "hero" or "pro" shot and add more strokes to your score. Chip onto the green and then take your 2 putts and go home.

Understand first of all that when you shortside yourself, you probably aren't going to get up and down very often. So step one is DON'T MISS TO THE SHORTSIDE! That said, we all do it, and when you do, your goal is for your next shot to be a putt. Maybe a really LONG putt, but a putt.

So the first rule is pick a club and a flight plan that will get the ball somewhere on the green, even if it is a long way from the hole. Then try to two putt and get out of there. Limit the damage, and do NOT leave the ball in the rough because you were determined to get really close and you cut it too fine.

The second rule is that it is easier to judge roll that carry, so use the LEAST lofted club you can and get the ball rolling as soon as you can.

The third rule is that, if there are NO other possible shots, play it like a bunker shot/explosion. Again, you aren't worried about getting the ball close here; you are just trying to find some way to get the ball on the green somewhere.

By the way, if you ask pros what the best way to develop a good short game is, they'll tell you to miss in places where you have a chance to get up and down. That often means NOT aiming at the flag on your approach shot, but aiming to the fat of the green or the side with less trouble.

[quote name='596' timestamp='1436642037' post='11929698']
You mention that you are a "very high handicapper". You probably don't have this shot in your bag, no matter what club you have in your hand. Don't even try it, with any club. Use a club you can hit onto the "green". Close to flag does NOT matter. Save yourself some strokes and aim for the green, not the hole. Take your medicine for short siding yourself. Don't try the "hero" or "pro" shot and add more strokes to your score. Chip onto the green and then take your 2 putts and go home.
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This x 100

This is a 3 shotter for you. Get it on the green and give yourself a putt at it. You'll make the putt occasionally for an up/down, but MORE IMPORTANTLY, you won't take 4 strokes.

My best friend is a high handicapper and I watch him turn a 3 shot situation into 4 over and over again. Amazes me every time too. Such a simple concept for people to take their medicine, but so hard for some people to do.

Take the suggestions above and PRACTICE the shots A LOT out of the worst grass you can find. Focus on the distance you fly the ball, not on where it stops. Your goal, as mentioned above, is to get on the green. The more you practice them, the better you will get with them.

BT

I will intentiallaly blade a wedge, especially if it's off a downhill lie. Just make a putting stroke with a wedge and try to strike it at the equator. Takes a little bit of practice to get distance control down but it is a simple and easily repeatable shot to hit.

Thanks a lot for all the good advice. Sounds like I just have to play it safe and get it on the green any way possible with the most reliable shot I can hit. Take the punishment and move on.

Going forward I think I'll pay a lot more attention to pin placements. Most times I'm just happy to get the ball on or near the green, but being in so many of these short-side situations is starting to drive me nuts.

[quote name='Burglar' timestamp='1436660740' post='11931268']
Thanks a lot for all the good advice. Sounds like I just have to play it safe and get it on the green any way possible with the most reliable shot I can hit. Take the punishment and move on.

Going forward I think I'll pay a lot more attention to pin placements. Most times I'm just happy to get the ball on or near the green, but being in so many of these short-side situations is starting to drive me nuts.
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This is a step in the right direction. I once heard a pro (can't remember which one) answer the question, "What are you thinking about as you approach a shot?" with this: "Where I want to miss."

All of us fall into the trap of focusing so much on our swing mechanics that we sometimes forget to focus on where we want the ball to end up. If you can become REALLY specific in your mind about where you want the ball to land (and I'm talking about a SPOT, not an area!) then your misses will be better and your chances of getting up and down go up greatly. Plus, golf is just more fun that way; you accept your misses and move on to the next shot, and then get rewarded with some success in scrambling to boot.

Think of it this way: to almost any pin on almost any green, you could put the ball in places just off the green where the best players in the world would struggle to get up and down. Conversely, to almost any pin on almost any green, you could put in ball in places just off the green where a mid-handicapper would be able to get up and down a decent percentage of the time. The trick is to miss THERE!

The year that David Toms won the PGA at Atlanta Athletic Club, I sat in the grandstand behind the first green and watched EVERY group play the hole. EVERY player that missed the fairway missed to the right, never the left, and then tried to hit the ball in the left greenside bunker instead of the rough, which was 3" deep bermuda. They knew they couldn't hold the green out of the rough, and they knew their chances of getting up and down were better out of the bunker than anywhere else. That's an extreme example, but you get the idea.

[quote name='Burglar' timestamp='1436660740' post='11931268']
Thanks a lot for all the good advice. Sounds like I just have to play it safe and get it on the green any way possible with the most reliable shot I can hit. Take the punishment and move on.

Going forward I think I'll pay a lot more attention to pin placements. Most times I'm just happy to get the ball on or near the green, but being in so many of these short-side situations is starting to drive me nuts.
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You're on the right track. Then just continue to develop your game and a shot to handle those situations. The main thing is to not play shots that you don't own. If you can't hit a hook, don't try to hook a ball around a tree to get out of trouble. If you don't have a flop or high pitch shot, don't try it. Go with the shots that you more or less own.

There is a shot you need to have, as stated above, which is to open up the club face and make a positive and fairly strong swing. You probably need a 60* wedge for this. As others have said, it's like a bunker shot. This is NOT a woolly tentative shot - it requires a proper swing. You will be throwing the ball up in the air which will limit how far it goes. You need to have your weight on your forward leg so you get under the ball. Ball centre stance or forward of that. Check out Phil Mickelson on all this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaZ-Ka-AQGc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5ophbTUY7s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgE8x5_GjfQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtxWtCUs-rs