Chipping Clb

[jamesh]

I saw a "Chipping Club" in the local sports store - the vendor didn't know much about it - it was a univeral club for a righty or a lefty - I am having trouble mastering my PW - would a pitching club be a substiute - what kind of distance can you normally get with this kind of club.... there seemed to be very little loft to the chipping club - could you use a standard club in your bag for a similar result.... I tried to google this first, with no success....


Thanks, any guidance is greatly appreciated!

James

[GreeBoman]

Re: Chipping Clb

sounds a lot like a "jigger"
used around the green for a chip, not a pitch.
Basically has a head like a rescue club and you use it with a putting motion, gets the ball airborne for a few feet and then rolls probably 75% of the distance.
Learn to use your 7/8/9 instead,
7 for 25% fly/ 75% roll
8 for 40% fly/ 60% roll
9 for 50% fly/ 50% roll
same putting/type motion, weight on the forward foot.

[gord962]

Re: Chipping Clb

Is the club like a putter but with a lofted face? If is can be used left and right handed, it is not a legal club. The purpose of this club is to teach you that short chips should use the same stroke as your putting stroke. Forget buying the club and just chip with your putting stroke with your wedge, 9i, 8i and/or 7i.

[pgmetcalf]

Re: Chipping Clb

Besides clubs like that can lead into bad habbits but the most important thing is that it can severly restrict shot application - you can't do with a chipper what you can do with a pitching wedge, but you do with a pitching wedge, or any other club for that matter, what you can do with a chipper.

[nanabush]

Re: Chipping Clb

My friend has this club and it is frickin amazing though... I tried it a few times and I can't believe the accuracy of it. I was able to put the ball at most 2 feet away from the pin every time. I thought it might be an illegal club but man... very hard to give up.
I have always had trouble to use the "bump and run" with a 9i, 8i, 7i etc, my ball flew past the hole every time. I have since been "flopping" the ball onto the green but you lose a lot in reading the green. You can't tell if it's a fast green or if there is an unseen roll.

I don't know. I think it would be hard to give up that club...
But at least I know now that it was meant to teach the "putting" on to the green.

[LowPost42]

Re: Chipping Clb

I've seen this chipper with only one face - it's often weighted like a putter in the back. That club would most likely be legal.

[bonzi_532]

Re: Chipping Clb

if you can play a bump and run, but you can't play the shot, why not just putt?

[LowPost42]

Re: Chipping Clb

Do you mean that if the bump and run is available (as an option), but you can't execute the shot, why not putt?

If so, great advice. I got my first birdie that way. I was 17 yards away from the pin, on the fairway. Pulled the putter, put a firm stroke on it, and watched the ball trundle all the way into the cup. (And to think my idea was just to lag it close, and get my first par!)

[GreeBoman]

Re: Chipping Clb

Or you could try the Tiger style 3/5 wood chip and run
gets a nice roll on the ball and you cant really top it....

[ubizmo]

Re: Chipping Clb

Jack Nicklaus's "Golden Bear" line of products includes this "bear foot" chipper, http://www.goldenbear-golf.com/utility3.php, which I've seen and played with in stores, but never tried out on the course. It handles like a putter, and I imagine it would be easy to make some very nice straight chip shots with it.

Seems to me there are a couple of issues here. The pros are only allowed to carry 14 clubs (does that include the putter, btw?), so they have to choose carefully. Some carry four different wedges, for precision approach shots. So they may simply not have room for a specialized gadget like a chipper. But a recreational golfer can carry whatever he/she wants, so if a chipper would help, why not? Not everyone plays, or wants to play, in tournaments.

I recall one player (Can't remember who it was) who, just before the start of the US Open this year, had the clubmaker chop several inches off his 5 wood. He decided he wasn't going to need the 5 wood for anything else so the purpose of the modification was to turn it into a dedicated chipper. In the hands of a pro, a sawed-off 5 wood may be a more versatile chipper than a bear foot (or similar thing), but maybe a lot of amateurs will do better with the specialized chipper.

[gord962]

Re: Chipping Clb

This goes back to the top of the post - why not just learn to chip with your current clubs? The purpose of this club is to simply teach you chip with your putting stroke. That's it. There is nothing different from this club to your wedges. When chipping line up line you are putting, stroke the ball like you are putting nd keep your eye over the ball like when you are putting. Seriously, don't waste your money on a club that has no other use than chipping from the fringe. Use the clubs you have - they will produce the same results if you practice your short game.