Chipping Putter, Putting-Style Chip Comes in Handy on Fast Greens (Video) - by Pete Styles
Chipping Putter, Putting-Style Chip Comes in Handy on Fast Greens (Video) - by Pete Styles

Let’s go ahead and imagine yourself. You find yourself in a really tough little spot. Hey, you've just gone over the back of the green. It's a down sloping chip shot that you've got. It's just off the back fringe but it's to quite a tight pin position, maybe only 20 feet to the flag. But you're sitting there sort of thinking about the decision "Maybe I should chip this ball but I’m fearful it will roll too far or maybe I should putt this ball because I’ll get more control but I’m fearful it will snag open the grass before it gets to the surface." So it might be time to actually consider playing a chip but with a putting technique or a putt with a more lofted club. It maybe another way of thinking about it.

So I’ve gone ahead and taken my 9-iron to sort of play this shot for you. I’m going to play it with my putting stunts. I’m going to play almost with my putting grip. I’m going to get very close to the ball so it's sitting the club much more upright and it would normally sit a 9-iron, sitting it right up here. I’m almost going to try and play this ball from the toe end of the golf club to kind of deaden the shot. I don’t want it to scoot away from me too much when it lands on the surface. So I get nice and close to the ball, feet quite close together like a putt, hands into a putting rip, rocking the club with a putting style of action there just from the shoulders. The one little chipping element I’m going to bring into this is just leaning into my front leg a little bit. I just want to strike down on the golf ball as I do this. I don’t want to be caught leaning back and trying to scoop and lift the ball in the air. That simply wouldn’t work for me here. So I’m into my left side a little bit more than I would be when I’m putting, everything else like a putting stroke, and just stay down really still and just putt the ball forward with a putting stroke, get the ball just to land softly on the green and release out gently. So if you can’t decide whether you should chip it or whether going to put it, try a little bit of a combination of a chip putt and just see how that works out for you in those difficult situations.

 2012-08-08

Let’s go ahead and imagine yourself. You find yourself in a really tough little spot. Hey, you've just gone over the back of the green. It's a down sloping chip shot that you've got. It's just off the back fringe but it's to quite a tight pin position, maybe only 20 feet to the flag. But you're sitting there sort of thinking about the decision “Maybe I should chip this ball but I’m fearful it will roll too far or maybe I should putt this ball because I’ll get more control but I’m fearful it will snag open the grass before it gets to the surface.” So it might be time to actually consider playing a chip but with a putting technique or a putt with a more lofted club. It maybe another way of thinking about it.

So I’ve gone ahead and taken my 9-iron to sort of play this shot for you. I’m going to play it with my putting stunts. I’m going to play almost with my putting grip. I’m going to get very close to the ball so it's sitting the club much more upright and it would normally sit a 9-iron, sitting it right up here. I’m almost going to try and play this ball from the toe end of the golf club to kind of deaden the shot. I don’t want it to scoot away from me too much when it lands on the surface. So I get nice and close to the ball, feet quite close together like a putt, hands into a putting rip, rocking the club with a putting style of action there just from the shoulders. The one little chipping element I’m going to bring into this is just leaning into my front leg a little bit. I just want to strike down on the golf ball as I do this. I don’t want to be caught leaning back and trying to scoop and lift the ball in the air. That simply wouldn’t work for me here. So I’m into my left side a little bit more than I would be when I’m putting, everything else like a putting stroke, and just stay down really still and just putt the ball forward with a putting stroke, get the ball just to land softly on the green and release out gently. So if you can’t decide whether you should chip it or whether going to put it, try a little bit of a combination of a chip putt and just see how that works out for you in those difficult situations.