Chips v Pitches - by Leadbetter
Top coach's latest Quick Tips book has all the short game answers
Posted: 30 October 2007
by Peter Pringle
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Wrists firm, hands forward when chipping
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Whatever the difference is between chipping and pitching, both are crucial to improving our golf game.
Though the definitions tend to get blurred - especially by TV commentators in the heat of the broadcast - it's widely recognised that the chip is a shot played from around the green that keeps the ball close to the ground while a pitch is usually from about 30-60 yards, played through the air.
Also, chipping is a stroke played with firm wrists with no wrist-cock - a putt with a lofted club. Pitching is a lofted shot, and tends to be played with a cocked left wrist - more carry, less roll.
Like many of us, I've had problems in recent weeks selecting between playing a chip or a pitch and at times of deepest uncertainty have opted, often unwisely, for bashing a long putt from yards off the green.
However, the arrival of David Leadbetter's Quick Tips book has helped me, not only understand the differences and definitions between chipping and pitching but also learn how to play them with more confidence.
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For more consistent chips keep the heel of the club slight raised off the ground
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CHIPPING
Says Leadbetter: "All great short game players have great imagination around the green. To become more creative in visualising your options and develop better judgement on shot selection, practise tossing ball underhand to the hole. Experiment with different speeds and trajectories from high and soft to low and running."
Key thoughts:
*At address, imagine a tiny car jack has raised your right heel. This helps lean more weight on to your left side.
*Position ball back in the stance to encourage hands ahead of the ball and with the heel of the club slightly raised, strike the ball with a descending blow.
*Poor chippers set up with too much weight on the right side and make a wristy, upward strike.
*Remember to turn the body through the shot, keeping arms relaxed and left wrist firm.
PITCHING
"Your body is the engine of the pitching swing, so turn the upper torso even on the shortest of swings, " says Leadbetter.
Key thoughts:
*The usual cause of poor distance control on pitches is over use of the hands and arms. Let the speed that you rotate your body control the distance of the shot.
* For a short swing of 20 yards swing at 20 mph, for a longer shot of 60 yards, swing at 60 mph.
*Imagine a rope from your chest extending through your hands and along the shaft. Keep the rope taut to maintain a constant width in your swing and to hit the ball crisply
*Let the right hand mirror the clubface to keep it square and maintain the loft through impact.
Leadbetter's Quick tips (The very best short lessons to fix any part of your game) by top coach David Leadbetter is published by Aurum Press, priced £12.99.
Tell us on the forum: What part of your golf game are you currently struggling with? Or, with the main season almost up, is it frustratingly all coming together? Have you had a tip from a pal or pro that works for you and you'd like to share?
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Discuss this story
Best chip tip I've come across was on one of those "shave 7 strokes off your game in a week" websites... but it works Set up with the ball level with your back ankle, narrow stance, open to the target. BOTH feet turned slightly towards the target. Grip down the club, almost to the metal with the lower hand, and turn your lower hand so the thumb is down the back of the shaft (helps keep clubface square). Angle the club so hands are level with your front hip, and make sure the clubface is square to the target line. Then you keep the arms and wrists locked, and make the stroke by rocking your shoulders back and forth like a putt. Sounds a lot more complicated than it is, but it helps ensure a crisp contact with the back of the ball, and you just vary the amount of turn to hit the ball longer or shorter. Produces a low running chip, you can vary the carry by practice with different clubs, or just work on getting really good with one. Sure this isn't the way most textbooks would recommend chipping, and its a bit limited, but for anyone who is a congenital chunker or blader of chips and has lost confidence in their chipping, this is an easy technique to regain some consistency.
Posted: 30/10/2007 14:19
Topslice, send me (via editor@...) a detailed account of your short game lesson with the pro - pix too if you can manage it. I'm sure there are aspects he/you would like to share. Would be most inerested. And that goes for anyone who has a lesson with their pro. Send it to me as an article (comprehensive or just bullet points ) about your faultys, what he/she recommended what you need to practice. Any feedback is always fascinating. BW -Editor
Posted: 30/10/2007 16:01
topslice, with those little 2-3 footers its worth watching the way some of the pros play them, often (not always, but often) very open stance, weight on you back foot, with the ball level with the instep of your back foot. i use to be frightened to death of playing short putts, basically 'cause you look such an ass when you miss um, but switching to this technique inside a putter length has got me sinking them every time (well almost!). give it a try. ps. i dont recommend you use it on longer putts!
Posted: 30/10/2007 18:30
how much time have you got? , Driver now hooks or tops , casting has crept back in to my game, Hybrids are brilliant and I don't know why , my fairway woods are crap , short irons are spot on , can't play an iron shot any further forward of my right instep , P/W and L/W only work with full blooded swing but are really accurate but only from right instep. Its getting so bad my playing partner named my duffed shots before i hit them to the others in our 4 ball yesterday, whats even more spooky he also knew when I would hit a brilliant shot in to 4 feet of the pin from the rough after 2 duffed shots , wish he would tell me in advance , the bugger.
Posted: 31/10/2007 10:30
sham, sounds to me like youve gotten very right side dominant, concentrate on using your left side in the swing and relaxing your right. to quote one of the better pros i took lessons from 'hooks and slices first thing i look for is a right hand throw.' it would also expain why youre having to put eveything so far back in your stance. (sorry bob, not trying to hijack yur thread, honest)
Posted: 31/10/2007 17:21
im struggling with trying to do two things at once i can do a nice in to out swing which send the ball starting right, but i cant seem to close the face when i do this so it goes straight right. if i really try and get my hands closed i cant seem to do in to out swing with produces a pull. very frustrating every 10% i get them both at the same time and play some great shots. though atm this swing stays on the range
Posted: 03/11/2007 03:26
my putting is my biggest downfall. I seem to leave too many short, distance control is a problem. If I could reduce my 3/4 putts down I would be a happy chappy. I find 2nd shots on long holes difficult as well and I have trouble hitting fairway woods. Looking at getting a hybrid but sometimes lack distance. Any tips welcome
Posted: 04/11/2007 14:38
CJH, I can give you a tip on both your probs if you want em ?. Putting , stand behind your ball and imagine what speed the ball would travel at to go 1ft behind the hole, see it slow down, take your stance over the ball and I do mean over, left eye over the ball even if you have to stand taller, look down your line and put the same starting speed on the ball as you visulized , its easier to look down the line and more accurate than from inside the line, trust the speed . fairway woods, To biuld some confidence go down the grip 1 1/2 inches , use a flatter swing plane than an iron, aim your eyes 2 inches in front of the ball, try to hit 2 inches in front of the ball , if it fades, next time close your stance a touch, front foot 1/2 inch in nearer the ball , rear foot out 1 inch away from the ball, as you get better and better contact go back up the grip bit by bit. Hope that helps, its easier to look down the barrel of a gun than holding it at arms length and guessing, I had slipped in to bad habits with my putter, reverted back to the tip above and am back to 28 to 32 putts average.
Posted: 04/11/2007 16:20
CJ Hughes I suffer with leaving putts short all the time - I've tried changing putters, changing routine etc, sometimes it works for a while then I go back to letting it slip again. Played a couple of weeks ago with a low handicapper, who after the round said "simple, you are decelerating the putter through the ball. Try taking a shorter backswing, and making sure you follow through longer". And, of course, it works! Need much more practice to get used to the distance control again, but now if its short its a matter of inches, and most putts that miss going 12-18 inches beyond the hole, which is better. I'm getting more confident with the putter again instead of fearing 3 putts. So I'd have a go at that on the practice green before your next round. Shorter backswing, make sure you swing right through the ball.
Posted: 05/11/2007 10:16
a great tip i was given a while back for getting it close on long putts is the 'look at the hole when you putt not the ball' tip. it really does seem to work well but you do need to get on the practice green and get confident doing it before you take it to the course. feels really weird to start with but worth persevering with. there's a slightly odd american called darrell klassen (think thats how you spell it) who did quite a useful video on putting. basically his principle is to look at your putt as if its on a flat green, then say your putt is actually uphill and breaks right to left, you pick a point to the right of the hole and a few feet beyond and putt to that point as if it was a straight level putt. i found it works really well putting down hill, instead of standing over the ball thinking gently, gently i pick a point short of the hole, putt to that point and let the slope do the rest. its also worth getting the length of your putter checked (avoid the obvious humour on that one please!  ), at 5ft6 i find most 'off the shelf putters' are too long for me.
Posted: 05/11/2007 22:41
if i recall correctly, Harvey penick put shanking down to trying to hit down on the ball and thus coming in too steeply, whether there is any basis in fact for that i cant say for certain, (it may be related to coming over the top on an out to in swing path). as to a cure all i can suggest is to check your set up before each shot and if it starts take deep breaths, try to relax and swing easy, nervous tension will only make it worse. its a horrible affliction but be content in the knowledge that it will disappear again as mysteriously as it arrived.
Posted: 06/11/2007 17:59
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