If we followed the advice of many teaching professionals, chipping would be very easy. Just hit your landing point and all would be great. Your ball would release to the distance you planned (or go in the hole) and all would be right in your golfing world. Sounds pretty easy, right! Unfortunately, it is never as easy as we think because of the plethora of variables that goes into every chip. The challenge golfers face is taking all the stressors of each chip and manifest a shot that lands on exact spot we selected during our pre-shot routine. Experience shows that this feat is a challenge in the best conditions; so what can we do to improve our chances of success?
In my experience, choosing the proper landing point is critical to setting up a tap in putt. We are getting ahead of ourselves because there is some pre-shot knowledge that needs to be developed in order to hit our landing point. Over the years, I have practiced chipping with all my wedges and 7 iron to hit my ball a specific distance in the air. The three distances I found critical for my game are 5, 10 and 15 yards. These distances with the variety of clubs provides a 95% solution to chipping to a specific landing point. It takes time and effort to develop this hitting skill (knowledge), but the pay off is well worth the time.
Now that we have developed the skill to hit the ball a specific distance in the air, choosing a landing spot becomes infinitely easier. In my case, I read the shot like I am going to putt in order to determine the break. It is important to know this information prior to selecting the landing point. Once we have an idea on how the ball is going to react once it starts to roll out, it is possible to select the landing spot.
Chipping is personal thing. Some players like to use the same club for every chip, whereas I like to use all my scoring clubs because it offers the most options for every shot. Now that we have the basics for chipping to a landing point, how do use this knowledge in a drill that provides immediate and focused feedback on a chip. Fortunately, Robin Symes has come to our rescue.
Hitting our landing point while chipping is critical to low golf scores. The closer the ball to the pin, the great chance of improving our up and down statistic. I learned a long time ago that this basic skill is very important to lowering my score. I will also mention that this is a drill that needs to practice regularly because I found that my touch evaporates quickly. I am confident that there are many drills out there that will help us develop the skill to hit our landing point, but the above video is by far the simplest and easiest to replicate.
I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!
The Grateful Golfer 
I kind of enjoy the challenge of putting two clubs on the ground and trying to land between them so it bounces over the last one on the way. Keeps the tedium at bay. It’s an added challenge.
Especially when you try doing the same chip with the same target but two different clubs. That comes fairly easy from a couple distances but in between or outside of those it’s a tough one. You pretty much have to flight both the chips to manage it and that’s good practice both for your swing and your brain.
I’ve putt four clubs on the ground too and tried hitting lob shots into the square I made with them. When someone beats me to the range and I have to wait for the practice green, there is room for me to do that at least. And that’s great practice too.
I hit lobs shots twice today to two raised greens and I can tell you I’m glad I did. Both of those saved me skins today. Which reminds me. I lost. Oops. Just two of us tonight so it could have come out a slaughter either way but he got me buy one. Should have been two but he wanted to add a challenge on 17 that I accepted and then somehow won. That was the miracle putt of the year.
Separate that green into quadrants and the entire right back quadrant is slope. The pin is never in that quadrant but often near it. Today it was right at the bottom. And my partner wanted a putting contest from in the back and off to one side a bit. A murderous putt of 30 feet that was going to need to be aimed far away from the hole with the speed just right to funnel it near the pin. Now my putting had been terrible all day. I didn’t drop a thing outside 6 feet and not all of them. So I took up the challenge but made him go first. He hit a good one that stopped maybe 4 feet past. I followed him up with one that got half a foot closer. He mentioned I got to see his putt so I made it best two out of three for him. (I was playing with his money after winning all this week anyway). His next putt turned out mostly like his first.
I chose a different line and speed this time. I wasn’t trying to win, just having some fun with the putt. I hit it high and hard across the slope. And somehow it funneled in a huge half circle that slammed dead into the pin and dropped in. lol I tied his birdie on 18 so he only got a quarter back for his efforts today. That was the miracle putt of the year for sure. It must have been 15 feet right of the hole at it’s apex on the way down. You can bet the entire group will be trying to match it when we play next.
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Kevin,
The miracle putt sounds like fun. I enjoy trying those types of shots when playing different courses. It is amazing how much the ball can actually break when reading the greens for the first time. It sounds like your head to head match was a great deal of fun…..and that is what golf is all about!
Cheers Jim
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