Golf - Creative Chip Shots Around the Green

Hi, I am Paige Veliz-Gilbert at the Presidential, welcome back right now we are going to talk about how we use one club around the green creatively so that we can limit our options even more and keep our short game as simple as possible. I am big fan of keeping this job simple, what it allows us to do though is play around with our ball position. A great thing about the Pitching Wedge and other wedges like the Sand Wedge and Lob Wedge is that we are able to change the ball position and just slightly change the club base angle. This is our standard ball position with the club in the center at the standard Pitching Wedge this club moves back. It has left loft, it is a little bit more like an 8 Iron now.

If I need more loft on the club I slide it forward and in doing so I will open the club base slightly adding loft to club, three different ball positions one club gives you three different shots. For example when we first get setup, our standard chip shot has the ball positioned in the middle of the stance. We are going to call that our default position all the shots that we have seen in this segment leading up to this one have the ball in the middle of the stance. So, when we use the 8 Iron and the Pitching Wedge for our ratios and guide lines, we use the center ball position as the guideline and as that first fundamental.

If I want to add more loft to the club, I would move here and allow the club base to open slightly. We want to make sure is the club base remains square to its target line always. If I need the ball to roll more, I will move the ball back towards my right foot, so if you are right handed golfer, you can remember this R for right foot, R for roll and now the club is going to act a little bit more like an 8 Iron. If I need this ball to release and roll more, I am going to play it towards my right foot. Nothing else in my setup is going to change, I simply play the ball farther back and now the ball is going to roll a little bit more quickly and a little more easily towards its target.

Conversely, if I needed the ball to fly a little bit higher and land just a little bit softer, I would play the ball more forward in my stance. I do not normally recommend this ball position from the short grass, but it is great from short grass if you are skilled enough to pull off a shot and it is really great for almost any skill level from the longer grass. All we do is play the ball little bit farther forward, when I play the ball little farther forward though, I also open up the club base slightly. So that the club base angle still remains square to my target line. Now, it is the same shot, the ball will fly slightly higher, land slightly softer and allow me to handle especially down held shot with greater ease. Coming up next we are going to talk about common faults and how to fix them.