How Can I Chip Better To A Two Tiered Golf Green? (Video) - by Pete Styles
How Can I Chip Better To A Two Tiered Golf Green? (Video) - by Pete Styles

Now there’s enough things to weigh up and consider when you’re playing a normal chip shot onto a green. But things get a whole deal more complicated when that green has to tiers in it, two levels. Quite often described as a ‘MacKenzie green’ because Alister MacKenzie the golf course designer was famous for putting big swirls and big levels in the green; so you’ve got a bottom level and it goes up a big MacKenzie slope and then there’s another level. So as a golfer, chipping on to that it gives us another thing to think about. And the biggest priority here is you avoid trying to land the ball on the slope. Landing the ball on the slope is a bit of a no-no. The slopes are too small, and if you land it below or above, it makes a big difference to the shots. So try and roll the ball up the slope or take the slope out of play completely, but trying to land the ball on the slope, very, very difficult to do. And the easiest way you can consider how to play these shots before you actually play it, is stand to the side of the ball. Imagine you have a ball in your hand and think about tossing the ball onto the green. Work out where there’s a nice safe landing area, how the ball will react as it rolls up onto the slope, and how you can get to the right level. The point of being on the right level is it needs to make your putt easier. If you land the ball onto the front level on the pins of the back you’re putt is now a lot more difficult. Likewise if you hit the chip shot and it lands on the back level and your ball – the flag is on a bottom level, your putt again becomes a lot more difficult. So try and make life easier for yourself with your putter by making a better chip or pitch shot.

Think about where you would land the ball, land it in that area and run it up. So to that end when you’re actually playing the shot, you don’t need to be looking at the flag, the flag is almost irrelevant. Once you’ve picked your landing area, that’s the thing to look at. So I stand to the ball and I pick my landing area, and I have a couple of practice swings too. If you practice I mean looking at the landing area taking the flag out of my mind. Once I’ve decided my landing area, that’s the priority. As long as I then pitch the ball into the right place, I’ve landed it in the right area, it then rolls, and reacts, and goes the right way. So I need to read the green before I play the shot. I then visualize how I’m going to pitch the ball into the right place. I then take the flag away from my mind and actually put the landing area in my mind’s eye; that’s the thing I’m going to hit towards. Once I’ve executed that shot, I should have rolled the ball upon to the right level of the green to make my put a little bit easier. And that’s how you can play to a two tiered greens. 2014-08-14

Now there’s enough things to weigh up and consider when you’re playing a normal chip shot onto a green. But things get a whole deal more complicated when that green has to tiers in it, two levels. Quite often described as a ‘MacKenzie green’ because Alister MacKenzie the golf course designer was famous for putting big swirls and big levels in the green; so you’ve got a bottom level and it goes up a big MacKenzie slope and then there’s another level. So as a golfer, chipping on to that it gives us another thing to think about. And the biggest priority here is you avoid trying to land the ball on the slope. Landing the ball on the slope is a bit of a no-no. The slopes are too small, and if you land it below or above, it makes a big difference to the shots. So try and roll the ball up the slope or take the slope out of play completely, but trying to land the ball on the slope, very, very difficult to do. And the easiest way you can consider how to play these shots before you actually play it, is stand to the side of the ball. Imagine you have a ball in your hand and think about tossing the ball onto the green. Work out where there’s a nice safe landing area, how the ball will react as it rolls up onto the slope, and how you can get to the right level. The point of being on the right level is it needs to make your putt easier. If you land the ball onto the front level on the pins of the back you’re putt is now a lot more difficult. Likewise if you hit the chip shot and it lands on the back level and your ball – the flag is on a bottom level, your putt again becomes a lot more difficult. So try and make life easier for yourself with your putter by making a better chip or pitch shot.

Think about where you would land the ball, land it in that area and run it up. So to that end when you’re actually playing the shot, you don’t need to be looking at the flag, the flag is almost irrelevant. Once you’ve picked your landing area, that’s the thing to look at. So I stand to the ball and I pick my landing area, and I have a couple of practice swings too. If you practice I mean looking at the landing area taking the flag out of my mind. Once I’ve decided my landing area, that’s the priority. As long as I then pitch the ball into the right place, I’ve landed it in the right area, it then rolls, and reacts, and goes the right way. So I need to read the green before I play the shot. I then visualize how I’m going to pitch the ball into the right place. I then take the flag away from my mind and actually put the landing area in my mind’s eye; that’s the thing I’m going to hit towards. Once I’ve executed that shot, I should have rolled the ball upon to the right level of the green to make my put a little bit easier. And that’s how you can play to a two tiered greens.