Chipping

Aim: to provide you with more confidence with your short game, do bear in mind though that chipping is almost certainly the worst part of my game in LS99, thanks to the subtle changes I find my judgement of distance is way gone from the 98 version when I could put it on a sixpence!

As is my usual trick, a warning before I start that along with sand play, chipping is probably the worst part of my game. Some of this is because I havent really paid attention to the changes in LS99 yet, nor practiced enough, but also (brag brag!) I do tend to be a fairways and greens player, well, at pro level anyway, so it's rare for me to have to chip. I've found this is a big problem where I twitch my approach shots all over the place, so I had better read this section myself! I will also say that this data was taken using chips on the flat green at St.Andrews(the 9th) on various greens, and in LS99 (more so than in 98) the elevation and lies of the chips are a lot more of a factor...I think it's these I am struggling with. For your information in LS98 my whole chipping game (which was good) was based on knowing a LW chip was 23 feet at 9 o'clock, a PW about 45 feet and the full distance (12 o'clock) was 23 yards for LW and 35 yards for PW. I played the last 33% of the carry with a PW to assess break on the green and less for the LW.I'm still searching for an easy to remember plan along those lines in 99, when I come up with one, you'll be the first to know. I should also mention my old mate, the American pitbull, Seano1 who was an amazing chipper, and had thousands of the buggers ( nearly all against me! LOL), was hoping for some advice from him, but he's been real busy so you're stuck with me. Before I get a beasting at work I should say my old mate Horns was a pretty handy chipper ( especially in Ryder Cup games! ), but I do remind him that he'd have to be with his Greens in regulation figures ! (Ed: get on with it) alright, alright I'm getting there (Ed: what do you mean Ed ? I am the bloody Ed, tithead!)...thanks to Wils for his input re:chips, particularly the section on adjusting loft to balance lies (Ed: oh,yeah, sorry I forgot that I am the Ed). OK, here are the main chipping charts, then after that I will discuss each in turn before giving some advice on general chipping play and other factors to consider.

The main Chipping Chart

All distances measured in feet and were taken from chips on a flat green, normal/medium speed. ( St.Andrews 9th hole)

When The Wind Blows
As above these were taken on the flat 9th green at St.Andrews, all distances in feet unless otherwise specified

Main Chip Chart:
This shows the distances in terms of carry, roll and loft for chips with the wedges. I havent included chips with clubs like 7,8 and 9iron because it's something I dont use, I dont like the low ball flight, although I realise some people use them to keep the ball lower so they can play the break more like a putt. The most famous example I know of this is OhNoNo who I think chips with a 7-iron, and he's pretty damn hot with it too ! In the table, the "per-click" column is just a rough guide to show you how many feet you lose on the chip for each click of loft you add to the shot ( maximum of 8 for LW, 11 for SW/PW)..I usually include numbers for +4/+8 loft for LW and +5/+11 for PW as these are lofts that are halfway to the top or right at the top, I just interpolate for the inbetween cases.You can see for all chips, adding one click of loft will shorten the distance by about 3-4 feet.It's up to you how you want to play your chips normally, some people use loft right the way to the top, to get a high, soft ball path that stops quickly. Whether you want to do that or play them normally, I would try to remember just the values for 8 and 16 pips for the wedge-chips ( and 12 pips if you want )..thats 24 and 60 feet for LW, and 37 and 102 feet for PW.By knowing these values you have a pretty good chance of learning by feel where to hit a chip thats between those distances, but its vital to know the maximum you can get out and useful to know the halfway distance too.You can also see here the effect of different green speeds. For the LW, soft slow doesnt stop the ball that much because most of the carry is in the air, while a PW is much shorter on soft/slow, say about 90% of the distance, while a hard/fast surface will add 15-20% to a PW chip.For LW chips its about 15% except when you start adding loft then the effect of hard/fast greens is reduced to almost nothing for a lot of loft. See here, as usual, how I'm trying to think about this in terms of general trends, not trying to learn a million numbers...So, I can remember 24-60 feet for LW, 37-102 for PW, take off about 3-4 feet per loft click, and the chips are 90% of normal on soft/slow ( except for LW..mostly in air...little effect)...add 15-20% for hard/fast except for very lofted LW chips.You should also be able to see from the table that as you hit a chip harder (more pips on the meter) the carry through the air is increased, and the roll is relatively shorter....its surprising how the roll amount in terms of feet isnt that different for a half-hit chip and a full hit chip..a few feet more for LW,10-15 more feet for PW.Likewise if you come from the other direction and think in terms of shortening a chip, its the carry you are affecting most, so be careful of those chips you have to carry over rough/banks and then have a pin close to the edge....just as in real life, you have to carry to the fringe at least to keep it out of the rough ( where it sticks) but you may not be able to stop it after that...
Unlike the sand chips, your snap will affect the line of the chip, so it is important to hit 6 o'clock, and at champ level a badly missed snap will also cause a loss of distance on the chip.For a totally flat green with no lie at your ball, you should be thinking in terms of holing the chip. Aim at the pin and get the pace right so it has just enough to hit the hole (if its not too hard the pin can help put it in) and you'll hole a lot of these. I would say though that it's worth putting those if its not too long, as its easier to overhit a chip and bounce off the pin, the pace on a putt is more accurate (see putting section for including the fringe in your strength calculation).As far as playing a break on the green is concerned you should have a feel for the sort of carry you are going to play.The trend is for the LW to carry 66% (at half pace) to 80%+ (at full pace) of its distance, so when you have picked a strength to use, work out a rough value between these two and assume thats where the chip will land...from that point, the ball behaves like a putt so play the break as if you're putting from there.On soft,slow greens by the way especially when the break is very small near the pin, I often use a lofted wedge chip, maybe even with loft added and hit it so the carry is actually very close to the flag, it wont kick on much and should hit the pin and drop in ( aim to edge of hole if theres a slight break at the cup)...as ever, you'll have to come up with something that you are happy with, so get to the practice ground and hit some chips to find your way.You'll see the carry for the PW is less, about 55% at half pace to 75%+ at full, so you'll need to play more break on landing than the LW.

Wind Chip Chart:
The next chart is just to show the effect of the wind on your chips, which seems more keen than in LS98.For a wind behind you, think in terms of an extra 3-9 feet for a PW (3 feet is 8 pips, 9 feet is 16 pips)...and for LW think 0-8 feet. With the wind in your face the PW loses 4-10 feet depending on the pace (between 8 and 16 pips) and the LW loses about 6 feet across the board.(Thats what the +/- column is in the table to show the gain/loss caused by the wind). As with the flop shot I mention elsewhere in this guide, it can be useful to add loft into the wind to get the chip to stop, even though it will be much shorter.A fully lofted LW or PW into the wind will only go 30 or 55 feet (respectively) but the carry is 85-90% so it stops really quickly...can be an asset on firm greens. The most useful note is probably to look at the drift caused in a crosswind. Remember you should think about carry to work out the landing zone and the break caused by the green, and then look at the extra drift caused by the wind ( these quite often cancel out to some extent)..the simple way is to consider the two factors separately and sum ( amount of break +/- drift of wind) and then aim there relative to the pin.The range of drifts caused by a crosswind for a PW and LW hit between 8 and 16 pips are: 24" to 72" for PW (2 to 6 feet for 8 to 16 pips) and 15" to 54" (think 1 to 4 feet to remember easier) for LW.Now you believe that for chips you are hitting into the wind, you do have to account for that wind ( I wonder when Access will make wind affect putts/putting snap....) You'll be surprised at first to see that the more loft you add to a chip, the LESS it drifts in the wind, and is generally affected. This is not insanity at work, it's because the carry is being reduced, therefore the ball is NOT in the air for as long as the default case, even though you are sending it higher, it is landing more quickly too.

General Chipping:
Apart from the rare (and nice) occasions when you get a shortish chip onto a flat green, you wont be concerned with holing out. What you are trying to ensure is that your chip lands as close as possible to the pin so you have a short (or gimmie) putt.I'm sure somewhere there will be an easy formula to work out the effect of sidehill and up/downhill lies like the one ForeLeft provided for normal shots, but I don't know one, so let me know if you do find one.You must look at the lie arrow showing your ball's lie. If its a sidehill lie you should allow for some sideways movement but this wont be much unless the lie is very steep to one side. You'll have to learn this by feel I'm afraid.For uphill and downhill lies, one good way to look at it is the Wils method. Try to picture the lie as a certain number of clicks of loft, then simply apply that amount of loft ( in the other direction ) and play the distance as though it wasn't on a lie.So, if you had a slightly uphill lie, Wils would click the loft down one or two and ignore the lie.Obviously there's a limit to how many clicks of loft you can apply, before you either run out of clicks or you are in danger of hitting into a bank, so sooner or later you are going to have to be able to think of the lie in terms of a distance ( remember 1 click is about the same as 3 or 4 feet for most chips) , and this is what I do, hit uphill lie chips harder, downhill ones softer....you have to also consider the flight path of the ball and the slopes in the shot, if you are facing a steep bank you are going to have to have enough air on the shot to clear it, if the green slopes upwards a lot you must be aware that the chip is going to bump into the slope and stop much quicker than normal, vice versa if it's downhill...factor in the green speed too, which can exaggerate the effect more ( downhill,hard,fast chips and uphill, soft,slow chips can be tricky to judge)..Have a rough idea of the carry so you can factor in some break on the green, and for longer, tricky chips (much break,bad lie) try to use the mindset I mentioned in the putting section where you identify a safe zone that will leave you an easier putt, even at the expense of forgetting about trying to hole it.I really don't want to go on too much here, because in all honesty my chipping game is not up to the standard I would like, so I don't want to preach to you...but there's a lot of information here for you to take what you need and then to find your own style. I am moving more to the idea of playing all chips lofted to the top so they stop quickly but I really do have to practice some more to get a natural feel for the distances, especially from 8 pips upwards...Apologies if this section isn't up to standard, but I don't want to give you the impression that I am "da man" on this issue, so you'll have to work at this yourself a lot more to reach your own conclusions. For flattish greens, my numbers are pretty good, with and without wind, but you'll find that the really great chippers have a great feel for those chips that are far from the ones you'll find at the 9th of St.Andrews....best of luck to you in your practice!

Top Tips:
Develop a method that suits you, ie play chips normally or with lots of loft
Have an idea of the sort of carry you can expect so you can adjust your aim for break on the greens
Remember to include the effect of the wind on all chips
The lie and and slopes are important, and green speeds so use your brain a bit more here to visualise the shot
You can adjust the loft of the club to counterbalance the effect of an up/downhill lie to a certain extent
Try to think in terms of getting close enough to have an easy putt before worrying about holing out
Take the putter out if its flat all the way and not too far from the hole!
Study the point where the ball will land to assess any possible "kick" from a downslope of "bump" from an upslope
A click of loft changes the distance of a chip by about 3-4 feet
The typical carry for chips varies from 50-85% depending on strength and whether its a PW or LW

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