Club Selection Around the Green

[jdubba]

I have always been a pretty good player tee to green but I just lose so many strokes chipping and putting! I used to chip with just my 60 but ive always been told to use more than one club around the greens and it has been driving me nuts leaving chips way short or hitting it off the back! Wondering what other people suggest or what you have had success with

[Hawkeye77]

Proper technique and practice.
All sorts of variety in how people approach chipping, tons of threads on it here if you want to dive into those as well, and lots of variables.
Monte and Dan have some short game ideas you can access through their vids and online. Good instructional stuff out there. Some other guy must have some, too, @glk has linked some of it before and he’s solid in terms of wanting to help folks.
I used to be really inconsistent with the time honored ball off the rear foot, shaft lean, etc. that works really well for many but have moved on and with success (for me).
Hope you find a way that works, sure helps my confidence when the short game is “on” which these days is more consistent at least.

[BdaGolfer]

A simple approach is one of these:

1. One technique that works with many clubs

2. One club with many techniques

The goal may be to get to:

3. Many clubs with many techniques

 

The first 2 have a familiarity & sameness when you get over the shot, and are easier to practice. The 3rd one is important if you want to get better.

[ferrispgm]

get Monte's use the bounce videos and watch them on repeat....makes short game super easy with minimal practice. I personally prefer to primarily use my 58* on 90% of the shots around the green. The only exceptions are a pin at the end of a long uphill slope or a long straightforward ship with a ton of green. Otherwise I use 58 when most would go to a pw or 56/54. For most people though it's easier to change clubs for the shot at hand and make the same swing letting the club dictate roll out. I however see the ball carrying most of the way and have a better feel for that. I would start with the videos and changing clubs though.

[crapula]

I like this.

[SNIPERBBB]

Lob wedge is a disaster for many people around the greens. Especially if you dont practice a lot with it.

 

I like more of the one club, multiple techniqes/swing lengths for chipping. Primarily chip with my 54* probably 80% or better with it. Just fits my imagination more, if you're more mechanical multiple clubs with different length swings with each technique.

[aenemated]

Pretty much no one that is not a pro should even HAVE a 60° - let alone use it - and I will take this with me till I die.

Sure, sure, go on and talk about about your amazing high-loft wedge play. It's the internet and ya know what, I don't buy it. ... no, stop - I still don't buy it.

Jack Nicklaus said his best chipping lesson came from a suggestion to just putt it - from Arnold Palmer. I've heard of both of those guys but really ain't heard of pretty much any of you. So largely, get it rolling.

Pick ONE club - me, I love my 52° - and learn to hit all the shots you need to hit around the green with it. Learn to lay it open and hit a high one, learn to cover it and just bump it. Learn all the ways with one club - and you'll have a happier short game.

A bunch of options extrapolates the variables of shots you can hit that you've probably never hit. Would you rather have 10 shots with one club or 10 shots with 4 clubs you can't hit? Math suggests the former is a better idea for pretty much everyone.

God, I hate the wedge madness. I have a buddy with a 70°. That thing is as useless as fucking a croissant.

[Atrayn]

The lie should dictate which club. As a general rule I like the versatility of the 52 for most basic shots around the green, however I also like to choose the club that takes the shortest swing with the least amount of effort to get the ball rolling on the green, using as much green and as low a trajectory as possible.

I like to use the putting stroke first and then adjust lofts based on what is in front of me and the pin. I call this the efficient use of arm speed.

[golfing_penguin]

I'm going to assume technique is proficient, but if not, work on that first! A really fun drill to do around the green is chuck 14 balls down in a 'standard' position (say, 20 yards with green and fringe), and hit every single club in the bag. Do it a couple of times, and you'll find out that one of those clubs will stand out best, so statistically speaking that club is your go-to in that situation.

 

Then rinse and repeat for the other areas you tend to end up in.

 

This drill borrowed from Brett Rumford

[llewol007]

depends on how much room you have to the pin. Golf coach always told me me use something that gets the ball rolling and not too much time in the air. I typically use a slightly open 52 degree which i’ve gotten the release down pretty good. If the pin is super tight with not much green, I go to my 58 and open that up.

[iutodd]

I actually approached this from the perspective of the kind of lie I have. If I’m in the rough around the greens I hit a 60 almost all the time. Only time I don’t is on super fluffy lies where I’m afraid of going right under the ball - then I take a 52 or 56 and hit a lower shot and just make sure I advance the ball.

If I’m on the fringe/fairway around the green I hit my 52 or even Pw/9 - the goal is solid consistent contact. And with modern balls you can still get a little check and release with those clubs.

Note: I chip a lot like Jason Day, very little wrist action.

Golf is complicated and everyone has their own way of doing things - but I feel like the one thing I can say about every amateur player is that they should never hit their 60 for chipping from the fringe/fairway. You have to make such perfect contact that it just isn’t a good idea. Take less loft and make the shot easier.

[Ri_Redneck]

The lie, distance, slope and your ability to execute decide how you should play a chip/pitch/putt from just off the green. The scenarios are so vast that it can't be covered in this format. I putted a ball out of a bunker last week and saved par. The guys I was playing with couldn't believe I did it. But with packed sand and no lip, it was the easiest shot out. Read, study, practice AND, don't forget to use your imagination.

BT

[BeanFrog]

I keep it simple - either my 54 or 58, depending on how much green I have to work with. My 50 degree is a set wedge, so I don't like playing anything less than a 1/2 shot with them. I play the 2017 P790, so they are slightly chunkier for my liking for chipping and delicate shots.

[DLev45]

My only thing to add, other that what has been said elsewhere in this thread, is that I always take my 54, 58, and putter with me to a green-side shot so that I have options when I get there and can evaluate the lie and terrain.

I see a lot of people who decide from the cart and carry one wedge and their putter, or just their putter, which might look like the right choice from afar, but its not when they get up close. And then they just hit it with that club anyway because its all they brought and they don't want to go back to the cart.

[Barfolomew]

Playing only the 60* when you're not a boss with the club aint smart for scoring... Its the lowest % for clean contact on a chip and also the lowest % for the desired roll out cause of the large amount of spin. Playing lower lofts makes it way easier to pick it clean and get a more predictable roll out. I play a PW or 52 on the regular and only a 60 when needed. I used to use a 8 iron for long ones but have adjusted to the PW which I like better cause can play further from the green then an 8...

 

It is very good for your game to be skillful with a 60* and you should to develop your touch with it cause it will make you a better player with all irons...

[msg]

My up and down increased dramatically since 2018. What I did is to putt first. If putter is not possible, 9 iron. If 9 iron is not possible, then I used my 54 degree wedge. I do not have a 60 degree wedge. Along with this system, I have honed my distance control through practice. I usually pace the distance (1 step is to 2 feet for me) and with the distance I go by memory on what a 10, 20, 30 40 feet feels like, from putter to my 54 degree wedge.

[juststeve]

For chipping my rule is to get the ball and rolling on the green as quickly as possible. Minimum air, maximum roll. Pick the club that will roll the ball to the pin from the spot you want to land the ball.

 

Steve

[nitram]

^^^^What Steve said^^^^

It's not glamorous but neither is taking 3 or more from the side of the green.

[Fuscinator]

I used to use lob wedges around the green, all the time. In my view, I was pretty much eliminating chipping, altogether, from my game as I viewed my shots around the green as pitches. It only worked because I was able to practice all the time in a field near our apartment. After being away from the game for a while and buying a house, I can't practice like that anymore. Necessity has forced me to learn to chip with a variety of clubs. Luckily, I seem relatively decent at it.

[b.mattay]

Seems to be a lot of resistance to chipping with a lob wedge on this thread. Lob wedge is the only club I use around the greens in most situations (I putt if it is possible because it is the easiest motion in golf). Simplifying my club choice has helped my short game big time. I find a LW to be the most forgiving club around the greens (other than a putter).

[jobin]

"LW to be the most forgiving club around the greens"

And, the dunk is the best shot near the basket. Go for it!

[hagimihale]

I follow the same "minimum air/ maximum roll" logic noted above by other posters. Putt if possible, chip (8 iron) if I can bump-and-run, otherwise I use a 54*. I take all three with me to the green. Unless I have to carry something (like a bunker), my technique probably doesn't change whether I have the 8 or 54* in my hands. Make good contact, get the ball on the green and rolling as if it were a putt.

[Golfjack]

I used to do only 60 degree, and got better at it. Though it bugged me that sometimes I'd go a bit under the ball due to the loft of the club. Even arriving higher on the face, you're not getting the distance and launch you want. Switched to a 56, and lower launch more roll is easier to control. I'm oddly pretty decent at flop shots though. There are many techniques one can employ around the green, and when you start practicing you'll have some different shots in your arsenal. Always using the easiest shot to get closest to the hole. ie: If I can take a 9 iron to run it up there, I'm not doing a flop shot to the hole. If I can putt it from off the green, I'm not using a 60 degree wedge. It's kinda like are you more consistent using a full 9 or 3/4 8? It's hard to say, depending on what you practice, but with same level of practice the 3/4 8 is an easier shot.

[nsxguy]

Well, the forgiving part sounds a little silly but he's a +2. He can chip with anything he wants. LOL

[nsxguy]

Exactly. When was the last time ANYONE heard an instructor tell a student to fly the ball as close to their spot/hole and let the ball check up quickly ? Can you say "Never" ? LOL

If one is say, 10 feet off the green, and has 25 feet of green between the fringe and the hole, is it easier to fly the ball to within 3-5 feet of the pin and make it stop (relatively) quickly or is it easier to chip it lower, 10 feet, and land it just onto the green and let it run out ?

The latter of course. More margin for error and much easier to do. Everybody is better at hitting, "on the fly", a target CLOSER to them than a target farther away from them. EVERYBODY. So now "all" you have to do is learn to read the green and allow for the proper roll out based on the club you use.

Add to that, at least as I have observed over many years, is that the lower run out shot offers an advantage that the higher shot doesn't.

With the correct swing effort, which comes with practice of course, you can mis-hit the chip slightly and still get a decent result. Go under the ball a bit and hit it high on the face and the ball launches higher but spins less (sound familiar ?), giving roughly the same total distance. Ditto the (slight of course) thin chip. That ball launches lower BUT spins more and the little bit of "check", because of the somewhat higher spin, slows the ball down just a bit and also results in roughly the same distance.

Try to throw it up in the air and mis-hit it and you'd better be good with longer putts.

[MelloYello]

Jeez, how about some of you guys who are so happy to talk smack about various lofts go and do a little bit of practicing before you get on the internet and hand out advice? What's next, banning all drivers under 10* lofts? Banning extra stiff shafts? Banning all irons longer than a 7 because they can be mis-hit?

Sheesh, just go and practice OP. Find a wedge that makes you comfortable. Wedges are not all created equal and it's very easy to find some you like a lot and some that just fight you. It's not about the exact loft either--it's about what level of confidence you have with that club and what shots you can pull off.

I'd recommend starting with a 54/56 that has a generous amount of bounce. Get comfortable with that first. Learn the basics. Learn to do the fundamental stuff. Learn how to utilize the bounce. After awhile, it's easy. And once you get there, transitioning to a 58/60 isn't that bad and with some touch it can actually provide you a lot more control around the green (hence their popularity).

Trust me when I say that hitting a high draw with a 5i is a lot more demanding than chipping & pitching with a 60*. That said, it's still something you will need to work up to.

Short game is all about technique. There's no one out there hitting shots you can't because of swing speed or anything like that. There aren't certain motions or positions that demand incredible flexibility and a young back.

Watch some videos and go practice. You'll figure it out.