Keys to Chipping and Pitching

[Tball88]

ok, my ball striking (thanks to this site) is pretty solid. I am focused this off -season on improving my game from a 100 yards in.

For some reason my chipping and pitching absolutely suck, skulls, fats, you name it.

So here are my questions.

When Chipping and pitching:
1. Is it a left arm motion only, or do you use your right hand
2. Do you actively hinge and unhinge your wrist, or do you maintain firm hands throughout the motion. Do you hinge, do you bend your right wrist back, or just cock your wrists?
3. How do you execute a hinge and hold motion
4. How do you play shots from 30-80 yards, do you use a Pelz technique, or something different

I have absolutely no confidence around the green and need all the help I can get. Towards the end of the year, I was averaging 10 greens a round and still not shooting consistently in the 70's because I couldn't get the ball up and in worth a darn. My goal is to try to get to a 50% up and down percentage from inside a 100 yards this year.

Thanks in advance for all of your help.

 

[Kevin Shields]

ok, my ball striking (thanks to this site) is pretty solid. I am focused this off -season on improving my game from a 100 yards in.

For some reason my chipping and pitching absolutely suck, skulls, fats, you name it.

So here are my questions.

When Chipping and pitching:
1. Is it a left arm motion only, or do you use your right hand
2. Do you actively hinge and unhinge your wrist, or do you maintain firm hands throughout the motion. Do you hinge, do you bend your right wrist back, or just cock your wrists?
3. How do you execute a hinge and hold motion
4. How do you play shots from 30-80 yards, do you use a Pelz technique, or something different

I have absolutely no confidence around the green and need all the help I can get. Towards the end of the year, I was averaging 10 greens a round and still not shooting consistently in the 70's because I couldn't get the ball up and in worth a darn. My goal is to try to get to a 50% up and down percentage from inside a 100 yards this year.

Thanks in advance for all of your help.

1. You absolutely use your right hand
2. You bend and cock your right wrist, then slow your pivot and unhinge them through the ball
3. Swing the arms back, bend the right wrist. Pivot thru and apply force with your right hand against your left wrist to uncock it down as you pivot through. Keep the club below your hands in the follow thru
4. Pelz technique??? The clock? Thats fine but it really depends on trajectory and turf conditions.

 

[Richie3Jack]

Some thoughts:

- chips have just about zero wrist cock or bend. pitches have at least a little wrist cock or bend.

- Brian's Rule of 12 video. Helps a ton.

- I find vertical hinging to be helpful on many pitch shots because for me if I screw up on a pitch it's usually going long and the vertical hinge gets the ball landing softer.

- Pelz's 'clock' method is fine, but you better pace off each part of the clock in practice to figure it out. Gives a decent ballpark, but still a game where you need to use instinct and feel.





3JACK

 

[Jim Kobylinski]

you need to learn the mid sole pitch

 

[Chip Putterman]

Learn the Mickelson "hinge and hold" method. And use that PP#3 for solid chips.

 

[Kevin Shields]

There's much more release and mid sole in the modern Tour standard chip.

 

[Tball88]

thanks so much for the input, for some reason,when I hinge on a shorter shot, I have a tendency to blade the shot. I think my hands are releasing(unhinging), but the pivot is stopping.

 

[niblick1]

Hey tball, my pitching and chipping were pretty bad (same as you describe for yourself) and last year Brian told me I needed to wait until no one was around and learn how to hit little soft chips and pitches off a practice green leaving as little a mark as possible. I finally did that this this past fall and it made a very big difference for me. I was using way to much power on those shots and hitting little soft shots off a green gave me a feel of sort of how to softly feel for the ball and ground when hitting different shots. Just one more thing to try?

 

[softconsult]

I've posted this before. At the end of my one and only lesson with Brian we addressed the problem I was having with chips. Problem was "The Fats". Not often, but when it happened I would do it again, and again during the round.

We didn't have much time, but he quickly diagnosed the cause. I was popping my hands out. This caused a too steep angle of attack. Took about 3 or 4 minutes to get. I have since been working hard on technique, both midsole and leadedge chips and things are much improved.

I hadn't heard the light chip off the green exercise before. May try it.

 

[Tball88]

Guys thanks so much for the input. It's been extremely frustrating, to give you an idea, I was actually leading my club championship through the first 10 holes(even par!!!), a short par three over water, and I miss the green maybe 3 yards left in the rough. I'm slightly above the hole, should have been an easy 4 and possible par, I proceed to blade the chip completely over the green and into the water, hello 6.


I'm far from a perfect ball striker, but my misses, which use to be an uncontrollable hook, are now just a few yards off target. For those of you struggling with ball striking, this is due to d-plane, I'm much more focused on controlling the face and not so much about am I on plane and it's really paid off.

I practice, but I'm sure how to practice and if I'm even practicing the right things. I really need to develop a go to process for my chipping and pitching.

 

[Tball88]

one other thing, for those short game guru's out there, what changes do you make for specific lies.

Tight lie, ball buried in rough, ball up in rough.

I stand over each and struggle with what to do. The shot that really eats me up is something I have to get up and stop quickly(ie:flop shot) .

I've completely stopped going after the pin if I have to come in high and have basically started conceeding bogey. Most of my chips and pitches want to come in low.

 

[conkanen]

Call me nuts, but the "Carry Move" absoultely helped my pitching. I went from worrying about contact to trying to "feel" the shot at hand without worry. I had a terrible time sH@nKiNg chips and pitches before this. Does this makes sense to anyone b/c the improvment has been drastic.

 

[dannyc]

tball,

have you watched "over and out?" although the majority of the video is about bunker play, the info translates to shots out of the bunker as well.
the reason i brought this up is because i use one of the bunker methods to play flop shots.

 

[softconsult]

My thought is that explaining a question like yours would be extremely long and, frankly, redundant. There is so much information out there in books and on the net. In my opinion, you need to find yourself a good book or two and read about these common shots. I won't mention the names on Brian's site, but they are not hard to find.

 

[Tball88]

softconsult, you're absolutely right. I keep hoping Brian comes out with a short game video, or comes back to Atlanta so I can get a short game lesson.

I've thought about getting Phil's video, and I have hunted big time for Paul Runyan's book, but haven't been able to find many and got out bid on e-bay.

I didn't really love Pelz's stuff.

 

[softconsult]

I'm sure with you on one thing. The floating lie in the rough around the green is, to me, one of the toughest shots. So tough to avoid contacting the ball up on the face.

 

[Jim Kobylinski]

Tball88

if i had to guess, your bladed chips are a result from a too inside path on the takeaway. A lot under planers bring the club too far in on the backswing for short chips/pitches and they still swing too in/out and their low point is MUCH further back than they expect and it's blade city

 

[birdie_man]

I'm sure with you on one thing. The floating lie in the rough around the green is, to me, one of the toughest shots. So tough to avoid contacting the ball up on the face.

True true.

I think Brians "forward lean with minimal downward strike" may apply but I still haven't mastered that lie yet.

 

[Steve Greffen]

My thought is that explaining a question like yours would be extremely long and, frankly, redundant. There is so much information out there in books and on the net. In my opinion, you need to find yourself a good book or two and read about these common shots. I won't mention the names on Brian's site, but they are not hard to find.

Wrong. Over and out is better than anything else out there. Even if it doesn't go over the short game matrix.

Don't go outside the forum for the short game. No need.

 

[Richie3Jack]

one other thing, for those short game guru's out there, what changes do you make for specific lies.

Tight lie, ball buried in rough, ball up in rough.

I stand over each and struggle with what to do. The shot that really eats me up is something I have to get up and stop quickly(ie:flop shot) .

I've completely stopped going after the pin if I have to come in high and have basically started conceeding bogey. Most of my chips and pitches want to come in low.

Here's what I usually do:

Tight Lie = Play ball back slighty, weight a little more forward.

Ball buried in rough = same as tight lie, more steeper on the downswing.

Ball up in rough = ball further up in stance, weight centered, have clubface at address lined up with ball, sort of like hitting a shot of a high tee.

For me, the thought is if I would have a hard time getting the club 'under' the ball, then I try to make my attack angle steeper (i.e ball back further in the stance, weight forward). If I can get the club under the ball then the more I try to shallow out the attack angle.

I'm great at flops, but that's something I've just practiced a countless amount of hours since I was a kid.





3JACK