A Simple Golf Chipping Lesson For Club Selection

This is the Golf Chipping Lesson for Club Selection. Now that you know how to hit a chip shot...how do you decide which club to use? Each club will hit the ball a different height. Each club will give the ball more or less roll. I like to have three categories to choose from...

• wedges – either Pitching wedge or Sand wedge
• short irons – 8 or 9 iron
• Middle Iron – 5 iron

There are a few things that help determine what club to use.

• 1. Distance from ball to edge of green.
• 2. Distance from edge of green to the hole.
• 3. Uphill, flat or downhill to the hole.
• 4. Length of grass.
• 5. Speed of greens.
• 6. Natural trajectory...some people hit chips higher than others with the same club.
• 7. Any combination of the above.

These all affect your club selection. Let's look at a few possibilities to help give you an idea. To truly get the hang of this you will need practice and experience. This is really only a guideline as you will need to determine what works best for you.

We always want to land the ball on the green. It is the most predictable spot to land the ball. The selections below are geared towards landing the ball on the green as quickly as possible, and allowing the ball to roll like a putt the rest of the way.

Golf Chipping Lesson #1 : Short Fringe Carry

This first picture shows a shot where the ball is sitting close to the green.

• You don't have much fringe to carry.
• You have more room on the green for the ball to roll.

Try using your 8 iron for this shot. It will fly lower and hit the green rolling.

Golf Chipping Lesson #2 : Long Fringe Carry

This second example is a shot where your ball is farther from the green.

• You have a longer patch of fringe or rough to carry.
• More loft is needed to land the ball on the green.

Try your pitching wedge or sand wedge for this shot. It has enough loft to get the ball up in the air and carry the longer grass.

Golf Chipping Lesson #3 : Little Green To Work With

The shorter the distance the more loft you want to use. You want the ball to fly a little higher, and land it a little softer. This helps handle the shorter area in which you have to land the ball.

Try using your pitching wedge for this type of shot. You could also use a sand wedge, but that takes a little more practice to get use to the length of swing needed to hit such a short shot.

Golf Chipping Lesson #4 : A Lot Of Green To Work With

The longer the distance the lower the loft you want to use. You will be making a longer swing and hitting the ball harder.

The ball will fly enough to carry the fringe and rough, and will have enough speed to get to the hole. This shot will roll a lot like a putt most of the way to the hole.

Try an 8 iron or even a 5 iron if it is a long enough chip.

Golf Chipping Lesson #5 : Uphill Shot

• You need less loft.
• If you hit the ball too high, it's too hard to predict how it will react when it hits the slope. Most often the slope will take a lot of the speed off of your ball. So it becomes hard to judge the distance.
• Using a lower lofted club, you will hit the slope at a lower angle and will be able to run the ball up the hill.

Try using your 8 iron or 5 iron depending on the length of shot.

Golf Chipping Lesson #6 : Downhill Shot

• You need more loft.
• More loft will allow you to land the ball softer so that it can trickle down the hill towards the hole.
• When you use to little loft the ball comes out hot, and will be very hard to stop going down the hill.

Try using your pitching wedge or sand wedge for this delicate shot.

Golf Chipping Lesson #7 : Ball In The Long Grass

There is a very simple rule to follow when dealing with different lengths of grass...

The longer the grass, the more loft you need to use.

For light rough try not to use less than an 8 iron. Your pitching wedge would be used most often.

Heavy rough use your sand wedge. It will cut through the grass and pop the ball up into the air. This will give you a little bit of control over the shot. A low lofted iron is harder to predict how the shot will turn out.

Thank you for reading the Golf Chipping Lesson For Club Selection. The next lesson in the chipping series is Chipping Routine. You must save this lesson for last as it is meant to help you on the golf course. It will help put the finishing touches on your chipping development. After working on building a solid setup and chipping stroke this lesson will help put it all together when it counts...during a round.

Click Here To Go To The Chipping Routine Lesson

Good luck with your practicing and playing. May you achieve your golf goals sooner with the help of free-golf-lessons.com

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