Chipping 101.....Your Technique

[300Drive]

People chip many different ways....set-up and technique vary...How do you execute your "stardard" chip shots (standard in THIS CASE=level lie every so slightly nestled in the grass with a little more than 1/2 of the ball showing, approx 3 feet off the green, pin is 15 feet away from the edge of the green, level green). Ball back, forward, middle, hands forward, level, weight even, forward, no-wrist break on backswing, or wrist break, weight shift on follow-thru or not?

Me...ball in middle of narrow and slightly open feet line, shoulders along target line. Hands forward, slight wrist break back (no shift), then pull club thru and allow upper body and right knee to go forward as well, flat left wrist. Sand wedge...no put necessary

 

[DivotDelite]

I'm trying 12-5-1 for chipping. For the most part, I am am looking, lookng , looking at my wrists to make sure my left wrist stays flat, and my right wrist doesn't lose it's bend(too much) or uncocks through impact. Set up with ball in front of my back ankle, shoulders and feet square to target line, both feet rotated towards the target, and clubface slightly open, by about 2-3 dimples.

Contact and ball flight suck big time if I don't use any weight shift or pivot, which 12-5-1 doesn't have. Extremely frustrating. In order to make decent contact, and not keep hitting th ball fat, I use a slight lean forward of my lower body on the downstroke.

BTW, is Dave Pelz's short game bible TGM "friendly'? Lots of positive testimonials and reviews on amazon, but I am wondering if it's mechanics and instruction are significantly different from TGM principles?

 

[Brian Manzella]

Pelz is a throwaway artist.

 

[Worm]

I play the ball inside front heel with a narrow, slightly open stance. I open the face a bit going back and maintain that until my hands are at my right pocket (I'm a lefty). (I'm having trouble trying to express what I do next but it is the key) It then feels like I turn my hips open (pivot?) and that pulls the clubface square. Make sense? Best part of my game right now. I've NEVER been as consistent (or confident) from fifty feet and in as I am now .For some reason though, I can't hit full shots with this procedure. It's very frustrating.

 

[hue]

quote:Originally posted by DivotDelite

BTW, is Dave Pelz's short game bible TGM "friendly'? Lots of positive testimonials and reviews on amazon, but I am wondering if it's mechanics and instruction are significantly different from TGM principles?

1) His square to square stroke is dreadful. I used to TRY to do it and it is a contrived motion that set you up for the yips because of the adjustments you have to make to make it work. The putter should be swung on plane and that means the shaft should point at the base plane line through the entire stroke. This will mean that the putter face will open on the backstroke and close on the through stroke but be square to the arc . This is what Stan Utley teaches and if you go to Brian,s Instruction article section is what he suggests in his "Rolling the rock" article. the Utley/Brian way is natural and easy to do and train. The Pelz way of keeping the face square to the path through the entire stroke takes tons of training and sets you up for the yips.

2) His ball position for his chips are played too far back and this does not conform to plane . I chip from the same ball poostion as I play my full shots this conforms to plane and sets me up for the impact hands that I have trained. The chip is just a mini swing and again the shaft points at the base line through the stroke. With the Pelz stroke far back ball position you have to do strange things with the arms manipulating the stroke as the club face would be open at that point in your normal swing. Utley chips with a square stance Pelz with an open one.

3) Pelz has a three different length pitching swing system with ALL of his swings finishing as you would in a full swing. NO tour players play this way most of their follow throughs are close to the backstroke length. He likes you swinging at the same rhythm and tempo with 4 clubs a PW, SW, 60* LW and a X wedge 64* LW and charting the distance you hit each with his 3 swings . Good players use the clock/distance approach and were doing this long before Pelz came along they vary the pivot speed and lengths of swing . If you read his Short game Bible there are a couple of pics of him performing his pitch stroke this is an armsy floppy stroke that is different to your full swing that is given to club head throwaway. The Utley Pitch is a mini golf swing.

Pelz has made much of his 17 1/2" rule being the optimum distance that the ball should be putted past the hole to ensure the best chance of going in. Research has showm that this is not true and the optimum distance varies depending on the speed of the green. Pelz mixes lies with the truth and a lot of his NASA type research he says he does should be taken with a pinch of salt. Having said that some of his grean reading tips and statistics made good reading and were interesting even if they might be faction.

 

[densikat]

I have built my basic short game strokes around 12-5-1 and 12-5-2 with very positive results.

12-5-1 (basic chip) is just 2 foot either way, and I alternate clubs to vary the distance.

12-5-2 (pitch motion) adds shoulder movement, right arm doesnt pass waist high

At the moment I do both from an Impact Fix position. I try to maintain rigid impact alignments (flat left/bent right) throughout my shot, I have weaned myself off the small float load tendency I used to have.

 

[DivotDelite]

quote:2) His ball position for his chips are played too far back and this does not conform to plane . I chip from the same ball poostion as I play my full shots this conforms to plane and sets me up for the impact hands that I have trained. The chip is just a mini swing and again the shaft points at the base line through the stroke. With the Pelz stroke far back ball position you have to do strange things with the arms manipulating the stroke as the club face would be open at that point in your normal swing. Utley chips with a square stance Pelz with an open one.

Very informative post Hue. The reason I play the ball back is because I need room for my right elbow to go back on the backstroke without interference from my right side. If I place the ball in my normal full shot position, then my right side interferes with my right elbow, and the clubhead has to start outside the target line, presumably off plane.


Rethinking my hands, I think I have been focusing almost exclusively on the right wrist, following Yoda's lessons on the right forearm and right flying wedges on the other forums, and neglected the almighty flat left wrist. My eyes plays tricks on me. From my vantage point, a left wrist that looks slightly arched, is in reality bent. Also, with flat left wrist in impact position, my hands look extremely far to the left, much further left than address.

 

[hue]

DivotDolite: I get the impression that you do not have a pivot in your chipping stroke. I have a pivot in mine and think of the stroke as a mini swing without the wrist action. For longer chips/pitches I have a bit of wrist set . When you do this you are really pitching not chipping.

 

[DivotDelite]

quote:Originally posted by hue

DivotDolite: I get the impression that you do not have a pivot in your chipping stroke. I have a pivot in mine and think of the stroke as a mini swing without the wrist action. For longer chips/pitches I have a bit of wrist set . When you do this you are really pitching not chipping.

Yes, no pivot. I am performing 12-5-1 basic motion from TGM which does not have either a pivot or shoulder turn....only arm motion. Unfortunately, there aren't any guidelines in 12-5-1 about ball placement, not that I remember.

 

[Mathew]

I punch with the right wrist bent for chip shots - Best advice I ever found on chipping

Open - yes I am open as I like to fake impact so to speak. Feel is important and getting the right length backstroke is important because too long and you will have a tendancy to deaccelarate into impact. You should also execute it with a sence of relaxment.

 

[300Drive]

quote:Originally posted by Mathew

I punch with the right wrist bent for chip shots - Best advice I ever found on chipping

Open - yes I am open as I like to fake impact so to speak. Feel is important and getting the right length backstroke is important because too long and you will have a tendancy to deaccelarate into impact. You should also execute it with a sence of relaxment.

Love that post...got to try it out today. Sounds like it really would work out well.

 

[EdZ]

quote:Originally posted by Mathew

I punch with the right wrist bent for chip shots - Best advice I ever found on chipping

Open - yes I am open as I like to fake impact so to speak. Feel is important and getting the right length backstroke is important because too long and you will have a tendancy to deaccelarate into impact. You should also execute it with a sence of relaxment.

Excellent post Mathew, well said.

Like throwing a ball underhanded....