why do i fluff my chips

[foozler]

hello, i am having real problems at the mo with my chips around the greens. why do i fluff my chips? this has come from nowhere and i can't get rid of it. i have tried relaxing, putting the ball back in stance but just can't get it. i have resorted to putting, which is ok if the grass is short but when you have thick fringe it makes it very hard.

please any ideas are welcome

[kbp]

Re: why do i fluff my chips

Many times this is from using a shoulder turn on the backswing and then using mostly arms on the foreswing and not turning back through. The more you try to reach the hands forward in the foreswing, the more you hit behind. The turn must advance the hands in front of the ball, not the arms alone. Swaying is a related fault, similar reasoning.

You see this in putting sometimes too when people stub the putter behind the ball. They rock the shoulders on the backswing and then try to hit it with the arms only on the foreswing instead of rocking the shoulders back through the putt.

[msklar92]

Re: why do i fluff my chips

all i can say is check out Phil Mickelsons secret of the short game. according to him, there is only i way to chip and that is hinge and hold. It has change my short game completely.

[jamesh]

Re: why do i fluff my chips

I once had the same problem. I fluffed three consecutive chips from the rough!

The problem was, I was using a golf club with about 4° of bounce in high rough grass. The golf club, was passing just under the golf ball.

So I went out and bought some wedges that are better suited for high rough. I Have one golf wedge with 14° of bounce, and a second, I think, is around 12° of bounce.

These degrees of bounce, prevent me from fluffing my chips.
Problem solved.

Good luck,

James

[keiko]

Re: why do i fluff my chips

You may be slouching, make sure you have good posture even more upright than normal, choke down on the club and take practice swings to make sure your contact is where it should be, depending on what you are playing, watch ball position, and most of all, don't move your head or look up until you have struck the shot.
Chipping takes practice so be prepared to spend 30-40% of your range time doing it until you get it good.
Don't use a lob wedge, you need something with a sharp edge on it like a sw or pw, a sw will stop shorter and have less roll.
The lob wedge has too much bounce and will blade easily by bouncing off the turf.
Let me know how these tips work for you.

hello, i am having real problems at the mo with my chips around the greens. why do i fluff my chips? this has come from nowhere and i can't get rid of it. i have tried relaxing, putting the ball back in stance but just can't get it. i have resorted to putting, which is ok if the grass is short but when you have thick fringe it makes it very hard.

please any ideas are welcome

[bdbl]

Re: why do i fluff my chips

You may be slouching, make sure you have good posture even more upright than normal, choke down on the club and take practice swings to make sure your contact is where it should be, depending on what you are playing, watch ball position, and most of all, don't move your head or look up until you have struck the shot.
Chipping takes practice so be prepared to spend 30-40% of your range time doing it until you get it good.
Don't use a lob wedge, you need something with a sharp edge on it like a sw or pw, a sw will stop shorter and have less roll.
The lob wedge has too much bounce and will blade easily by bouncing off the turf.
Let me know how these tips work for you.

LOL - a great example of how difficult it is to diagnose at a distance. I was just about to post that the OP may be too upright I had real short game problems earlier in the year which I solved by bending over more.

Agree 100% with the practice swing advice to ensure contact / ball position is correct.

[keiko]

Re: why do i fluff my chips

So I guess I am wrong and you are right?

LOL - a great example of how difficult it is to diagnose at a distance. I was just about to post that the OP may be too upright I had real short game problems earlier in the year which I solved by bending over more.

Agree 100% with the practice swing advice to ensure contact / ball position is correct.

[bdbl]

Re: why do i fluff my chips

So I guess I am wrong and you are right?

Er no. Chill out mate.

One us may be right or both of us might be wrong, I don't know, and nor, not having seen the OP chip either, do you.

Which was my point.

I guess he's free to take or ignore any advice given since it is given in the dark.

[rogue]

Re: why do i fluff my chips

There may be many reasons too subtle to see with camera etc for why u are fluffing ur chips. Probllem is you may get your posture better and then something else pops in to spoil your day again. A lot of these things are mental. If you think you will fluff it you probably will. Overanalysing your technique on the course is the last thing you want to do. Maybe fiddle with a few things on the practice area but when you get out on the course there is only one thing to do, focus on where your club hits the ground.

The close to the ball your club hits the ground the better, you can get away with being 1 inch behind and no loss of distance. A fluff is usually 4 or more inches behind, and if u cant control the club then get in some sand, draw a line and keep practicing hitting the line until your body finds a way to do it naturally. Your subconscious will find its own way to steady your technique.

implement this into your routine via practice swings next to the ball, walk in and repeat. As long as the club is hitting the grass aggressively enough to cut/shave it you will be fine.

Only problem now is if you can hit the ground in the right place in your practice swing but cant do it in the real swing. If this occurs i have advice for that too but stick with this routine and practice procedure for now.

[rogue]

Re: why do i fluff my chips

Don't use a lob wedge, you need something with a sharp edge on it like a sw or pw, a sw will stop shorter and have less roll.
The lob wedge has too much bounce and will blade easily by bouncing off the turf.
Let me know how these tips work for you.

Acually the sand wedge has more bounce - it is designed that way do the club can 'bounce through the sand'. A lob wedge usually has very little bounce hence it is not as good for sand (unless you have an lw designed with intentionally mor bounce).

If you are on tight lies use a LW. if you are in fluffier lies use a sandwedge with more bounce.

[BrianW]

Re: why do i fluff my chips

The OP (Foozler) has not come back on this so we seem to be debating the problem amongst ourselves

Is there a Foozler out there and have the replies been of any help?

[foozler]

Re: why do i fluff my chips

You may be slouching, make sure you have good posture even more upright than normal, choke down on the club and take practice swings to make sure your contact is where it should be, depending on what you are playing, watch ball position, and most of all, don't move your head or look up until you have struck the shot.
Chipping takes practice so be prepared to spend 30-40% of your range time doing it until you get it good.
Don't use a lob wedge, you need something with a sharp edge on it like a sw or pw, a sw will stop shorter and have less roll.
The lob wedge has too much bounce and will blade easily by bouncing off the turf.
Let me know how these tips work for you.

Thanks for all the replys -

keiko got it I think? I was quite crouched over and since going through posture routine I am catching the ball first then ground I actually holed a chip in competition the other day

great site

[rogue]

Re: why do i fluff my chips

[QUOTE=tina001;10567305]Overanalysing your technique on the course is the last thing you want to do. Maybe fiddle with a few things on the practice area but when you get out on the course there is only one thing to do, focus on where your club hits the ground.
QUOTE]

my sentiments exactly

[TeachingPro]

Re: why do i fluff my chips

my chips around the greens. why do i fluff my chips? this has come from nowhere and i can't get rid of it.

My educated guess is that you've started decellerating or perhaps changed your technique from what you were doing some time ago. Here are some quick pointers on both:

1. Around the green, assuming it's not all soft and mucky, take a club with a reasonable amount of loft but will fly about 50% of the way to the target and roll the otehr 50%. In most cases, a pitching wedge or 54* SW works quite well. I don't suggest using a high lofted wedge though... the bounce will drive the club under the ball rather than at it.
2. Keep the feet reasonably close together and open the hips & feet somewhat to create space for the hands and club to travel passed the address position.
3. Push the bulk of the weight onto the leading side
4. Swing back and through keeping your hands ahead of the club and stiff-wristed to maintain the "link" between arms, hands and club face. If you break the "link" you'll have to manipulate the club face and on such a short swing your timing has to be perfect.
5. Keep the club face leading to the target (not necessarily the pin) and keep the swing flatter/lower than usual to ensure that you strike the ball with a shallow angle of approach
6. Most importantly, I think, accellerate through the impact zone. Don't stop, don't slow down ... speed up with the ams, hands and club working like you would on a putt.

Before you play the shot, think about what you want to do. Find an intermediate target taking the slope, ground conditions and the pin position in mind. For a pitch&run, aim somewhere around 50% of the way there and for a higher, softer flight, aim around 75% of the way to the pin.

Dont always grab for the heaver, lofted and higher-bounce SW or LW - experiment and practice with all the short irons clubs.

[dagosa]

Re: why do i fluff my chips

One that has helped me is to NOT ground the club. That immediately sets ground contact before the ball or at the least puts grass between club face and ball as well as loss of distance with contact above sweet spot. Instead, hover club face over hitting area and think contact with ground after ball on practice swings. You'll be hitting "too long" in no time until you get used to the better contact. I don't expect much of a follow through with a low velocity swing and contact with ground after ball with poor lies, but strive for it so as not to decelerate. Above all, I try to set wrists with good lag and hold through out swing.