Chippers, anyone?

[The Aspidistra in the Hall]

5 minutes ago, No_Catchy_Nickname said:

 

Same here when I was playing in the UK, but I see a lot of amateurs in Japan use a sand wedge or lob wedge for chips. It might be because that's what they see the pros doing on TV.

 

 One guy I played with today in fact used his 58* from a few yards off the green on at least three occasions. Funny thing is, when he was 30 or forty yards short, he would hit a bump and run with a 8 or 9 iron. On one of those bump and runs, he had to flirt with a bunker as well. I will say that he got decent results with the lofted wedge, but that's not the club I'd have used for those shots.

 

Now the other chap I played with today is an older gent who started out many years ago, and he is definitely more into chipping with a variety of short irons. 

Also I know of no-one who teaches/ taught  it. The byword is 'get the ball on the ground as fast as possible to take out variations in the texture of the landing surface'. Generally it is the view that broad soled clubs with bounce only work on extensively groomed and expensive to maintain golf courses.

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

4 minutes ago, The Aspidistra in the Hall said:

Also I know of no-one who teaches/ taught  it. The byword is 'get the ball on the ground as fast as possible to take out variations in the texture of the landing surface'. Generally it is the view that broad soled clubs with bounce only work on extensively groomed and expensive to maintain golf courses.

 

The way I was taught it was chip the ball to get it over the rough stuff/ground in front of the green and let it run out to the hole, because playing it that way has greater margin of error than trying to fly the ball to the hole and then stop it.

 

On a side note, I certainly wouldn't call the course I played today extensively groomed. Far from it, in fact. The wild boar marks in the bunker were just but one giveaway🤣 

[The Aspidistra in the Hall]

1 hour ago, No_Catchy_Nickname said:

 

The way I was taught it was chip the ball to get it over the rough stuff/ground in front of the green and let it run out to the hole, because playing it that way has greater margin of error than trying to fly the ball to the hole and then stop it.

 

On a side note, I certainly wouldn't call the course I played today extensively groomed. Far from it, in fact. The wild boar marks in the bunker were just but one giveaway🤣 

We get wild  and crashing bore marks in ours lol.

[scomac2002]

This whole chipping club question can most likely be answered by where you find yourself having to make your final approach shot from.  Are you in short grass or thick gnarly rough?  How far do you have to cover and how much room do you have to work with on the green?

 

I use a lofted club a lot around the greens.  Why?  I have to carry greater than half the total distance of the shot most times.  Also, the greens are fast and sloping so I need to stop the ball in relatively short order.  Is this easier to accomplish with a short iron or a lofted wedge?  I'd rather take my chances in being able to correctly judge how far I need to fly the ball to the green rather than counting on bouncing a ball through rough and having the slightest idea how that will work out.

 

It's not like that has never happened though as tree limbs can create added obstacles in requiring a low shot hence using everything from a 7W to a lob wedge.  Some results are pretty good.  Others, not so much... ⛳

[Foozle]

I am the last person who should offer any comment on chipping, I have nearly 50 years of yipping chips under my belt! 

I play all my golf on Scottish links courses and so, unless I have a hazard to clear or am facing a raised green, I will always play as low to the ground as I can. In Bobby Jones's "How I Play Golf" series, he argues that you should use what ever club carries you onto the  nearest point green surface and will roll out to the hole. So from very short range you may use a 3 iron and 30 yards out you may use a wedge (in his case a cleek or a niblick!). I try to follow that principle to reduce risk along the lines of a bad putt being better than a bad chip.  It doesn't seem logical to me when people pull out lob wedges and take a long swing for completely flat approaches from the edge of greens; a much higher tariff shot? Perhaps a reflection of my own experience and knowledge that the longest shot I possess is a bladed sand iron! 

To return to the topic of chippers, I don't own one but during the darkest days of my chipping yips I have resorted to using an old Oggmented pyratone 2 iron as a run up club - essentially playing it as a slightly lofted putter - I have never suffered putting yips (touching wood as I say that) so found it quite effective in protecting my scoring and sanity - although many would dispute the latter! 

[scomac2002]

24 minutes ago, Foozle said:

It doesn't seem logical to me when people pull out lob wedges and take a long swing for completely flat approaches from the edge of greens; a much higher tariff shot? Perhaps a reflection of my own experience and knowledge that the longest shot I possess is a bladed sand iron! 

 

I've seen plenty of the former and had plenty of the latter to my discredit.  You're 100% correct that if I'm just off the front of the green what in the heck would I lob it on for?  The run up club is the option of choice.  Close in shots are always the most difficult for me.  I feel most comfortable keeping those as low as I can get away with.  The shot from the side of the green in thick rough is the worst though as you need a confident swing to get it out of the mess, but somehow keep it from running off the other side.  I've tried various approaches to this shot with inconsistent results.

[The Aspidistra in the Hall]

There is another point and that is of spin generated by a lofted club and the unpredictabilty of the grab depending on the surface the ball lands on. Pitch it on a soft part and it dies, on a firm part and it bounds through the back. With top quality greens this happens less and on links courses the landing surface is reliable. Anywhere else and it's a lottery. Far better to play a straighter faced club which is less inclined to spin and by rolling the wrists spin can be eliminated completely.

[Robert L.]

At the course where I play almost all the holes have a landing area in front of the greens with a rope fence marking off the area from the fairway, and the grass can be fairly long there. If my ball lands in there, like it does on most shots, then my chipper is a reliable club for a bump and run shot if I'm close enough. My rule of thumb for a ball that lands here is if my ball lands between the green and halfway into the landing area then it's a bump and run shot. From halfway in to the fairway then it's a pitch shot. The grass can be fairly long in the landing area so the wide sole and increased mass of my chipper helps me to cut through the long grass.

[dcopp7]

I always thought these were a gimmick but you guys might be persuading me...

[ChipStrokes]

@Fairway14 coming up with his statistics:

 

[Haroputt]

Any club in my bag are chipping clubs and don’t need to complicate matters with adding another one. Meaning for longer chip shots I like using a hybrid or a 5 iron 
For touch chip shots like really short and maybe delicate downhill I generally play a SW and play it back stance or front of the stance so my shoulder are not level and control shot more like a pendulum stroke than a swing 

[Fairway14]

40 minutes ago, Haroputt said:

Any club in my bag are chipping clubs and don’t need to complicate matters with adding another one. Meaning for longer chip shots I like using a hybrid or a 5 iron 
For touch chip shots like really short and maybe delicate downhill I generally play a SW and play it back stance or front of the stance so my shoulder are not level and control shot more like a pendulum stroke than a swing 

 

It's true that a player with excellent technique can use just about any club within the bag to get chip shots consistently next to the hole.

But how many players are excellent chippers who nearly always leave their chip shots within five feet of the hole ? I think maybe 2% of the players out there on the golf courses, which means 98% could stand to improve their chipping game.

If there is a club designed (wide sole short shaft, especially heavy head weight etc...)  specifically to make the chip shot easier, using one might possibly lower a player's 18 hole scores.

[Jiggered]

8 hours ago, Haroputt said:

Any club in my bag are chipping clubs and don’t need to complicate matters with adding another one. Meaning for longer chip shots I like using a hybrid or a 5 iron 
For touch chip shots like really short and maybe delicate downhill I generally play a SW and play it back stance or front of the stance so my shoulder are not level and control shot more like a pendulum stroke than a swing 

 

I'm the opposite, I've not found a club I can chip with, and that includes chippers.  😧

[2bGood]

28 minutes ago, Jiggered said:

 

I'm the opposite, I've not found a club I can chip with, and that includes chippers.  😧

This has been what I have seen. Players with challenges chipping, still have trouble with chippers and they don't really help them for a prolonged time. 

Edited October 24, 2021 by 2bGood

[dhappy42]

Practicing with my new Cleveland Soft Sole 42* chipper the other day. Directional accuracy is great, but I'm getting a lot of roll out after landing, which makes the club useless far beyond the fringe.

[Shallowface]

On 10/18/2021 at 8:40 AM, Foozle said:

I am the last person who should offer any comment on chipping, I have nearly 50 years of yipping chips under my belt! 

I play all my golf on Scottish links courses and so, unless I have a hazard to clear or am facing a raised green, I will always play as low to the ground as I can. In Bobby Jones's "How I Play Golf" series, he argues that you should use what ever club carries you onto the  nearest point green surface and will roll out to the hole. So from very short range you may use a 3 iron and 30 yards out you may use a wedge (in his case a cleek or a niblick!). I try to follow that principle to reduce risk along the lines of a bad putt being better than a bad chip.  It doesn't seem logical to me when people pull out lob wedges and take a long swing for completely flat approaches from the edge of greens; a much higher tariff shot? Perhaps a reflection of my own experience and knowledge that the longest shot I possess is a bladed sand iron! 

To return to the topic of chippers, I don't own one but during the darkest days of my chipping yips I have resorted to using an old Oggmented pyratone 2 iron as a run up club - essentially playing it as a slightly lofted putter - I have never suffered putting yips (touching wood as I say that) so found it quite effective in protecting my scoring and sanity - although many would dispute the latter! 

Golf Channel used to have a show called "Big Break Academy" hosted by Michael Breed.  There was a pro on there that had the chipping yips so bad that he would putt from 30 yards off the green.  Turns out his problem was eye alignment at address.  The pro's eyes were lined way to the right of his target, which caused to club to come too much from the inside and led to fats, thins and hosel rockets.  Once Breed told him to makes sure his eyes were parallel to his target line, the pro's chipping issues were immediately cured.

 

If you haven't tried this, give it a try.  If you wear glasses, set up to a shot, then reach up and pull the glasses straight off your head.  If they are lined other than parallel to your target line, you may have found your problem.  It worked for me.  Hope this helps!   

[The Aspidistra in the Hall]

Here is the only chipper I own, more for it's art deco styling and appeal than for it's use ona golf course.