Chipping from the rough

[BigdazUK]

Chipping from the rough:

Anyone got any ideas??

What club would you guys use?
Would you be trying to hit down on the ball?

More often than not on a chip of anything under 10 yards off the green I'd be duffing the ball a few yards ahead on me.

[mkirt]

Re: Chipping from the rough

I find that I have my best results using an 8 iron and doing a bump and run type of chip if I am within 10 yards of the green in the rough. This is based on no bunkers being in the way and the pin not being set close to the edge ( ie some room for rollout). I cock my wrist early so I come in to the chip at a steeper angle. Depending on how deep the rough is the follow through is sometimes short (grass catches the club- like a buried lie in the bunker). Even misshits give more predictable results than trying to fly the ball to the pin.

If the pin is near the edge or I have something between my ball in the rough and the green, I will use my pitching wedge if the ball is deep in the rough or my sand wedge if it is a good lie.

[Durtman]

Re: Chipping from the rough

Most important thing to keep in mind is to commit to the shot and don't decelerate your swing. If it's buried a sharp angle of attack, ball off the toe of your hind foot, little to no follow through will pop it out. Most of the time when i'm 10 yards in I try to putt it with my 6 iron so it's only in the air for a second

I just recently started reading Dave Pelz' short game bible and it has helped immensely. Also, while I certainly don't advocate buying AJ's Truth about golf (most boring thing I believe I've ever watched), his Truth about the shortgame is where I got the idea for using putting type strokes with long irons, kinda like your grandads chipper.

[shootin4par]

Re: Chipping from the rough

sand wedge is the club of choice because of the bounce and sole of the club. A sand wedge is meant to SLIDE through sand, it is DESIGNED to do that. Therefore the DESIGN encourages sliding instead of getting caught up. The sand wedge will SLIDE through the rough better then a PW or LW or any other club for that matter. So, thick rough go with a sand wedge as first option, PW as 2nd, Tight lies, LW or PW, sand wedge can bounce on you so it should be last choice, fluffy lies, sand wedge or pitching, LW can slide right underneat the ball in a fluffy lie so that is no good, unless you want a flop shot.

[gord962]

Re: Chipping from the rough

The club you use doesn't matter, it's the angle of attack and ball positioning. Put the ball back in your stance and come down steep on the ball. If you try to go through tall grass, the grass will wrap around the hosel, closing the face.

The bounce on the SW is there so the clubhead comes back out of the sand, not to stay in the sand. That way the club pushes more sand up during the shot, because the sand is what propels the ball out of the trap. If using a SW anywhere but the sand, the bounce will cause the club to bounce off the ground as soon as it hits the ground. If you do not manage to hit the ball first, you will end up with a thinned shot.

[BigdazUK]

Re: Chipping from the rough

Thanks for the replies.

So a SW isn't a good club for a chip from the fairway then??

If you were in the fairway in front of the green with a perfect flat lie what club would be best to just lift it onto the green and let it roll into the hole

[LowPost42]

Re: Chipping from the rough

From the rough, I'd probably take my lowest-bounced wedge, play it back and chip (if I had to). More likely, I'd play a pitch rather than a chip from the rough (like Gord said, since I'm already trying to hit down as cleanly as possible, I might as well fly it to the green as well.

From the fairway, again, I'd be using my lowest bounced club (Gord gave a great explanation as to why I'd avoid a high bounce club), and chip away.

[gord962]

Re: Chipping from the rough

Thanks for the replies.

So a SW isn't a good club for a chip from the fairway then??

If you were in the fairway in front of the green with a perfect flat lie what club would be best to just lift it onto the green and let it roll into the hole

It really depends. With most clubs if you hit the ground first, you will end up with a fat shot because the leading edge should gouge the ground. A high bounce club should produce a thin shot as I noted earler. Of course, these are only on miss hits. It you hit it correctly ball then ground, it doesn't really matter. You will more than likely have one club that you feel very comfortable with, more than the others, but you should be able to hit the shot from the fairway with any club. The club you choose for any given shot will be based on your situation which will take into consideration the distance to the pin, the lie, amount of green to work with, the slope of the green, size of the green and any hazzards that might lie between your ball and the hole and possible dangers if you were to either hit it fat or thin.

For example, if you have a flat lie, 30 feet to the pin at the back of the green with a water hazzard right behind the green, trying to flop a ball to the hole is the worst shot you can try. This is a perfect situation for a bump and run.

[vp27519]

Re: Chipping from the rough

UK,

For me the first thing I consider before choosing the club is the lie.

When the lie is good I generally use the one club around the green, ie, s/w (56). I know what it can do under pressure.

If the lie is poor and there aren't many hurdles for the ball to travel over I use my 7 or 8 iron and bump and run.

Good hitting,
VP

[shootin4par]

Re: Chipping from the rough

The club you use doesn't matter, it's the angle of attack and ball positioning. Put the ball back in your stance and come down steep on the ball. If you try to go through tall grass, the grass will wrap around the hosel, closing the face.

The bounce on the SW is there so the clubhead comes back out of the sand, not to stay in the sand. That way the club pushes more sand up during the shot, because the sand is what propels the ball out of the trap. If using a SW anywhere but the sand, the bounce will cause the club to bounce off the ground as soon as it hits the ground. If you do not manage to hit the ball first, you will end up with a thinned shot.

and how does the club come out of the sand? could it be that it slides through instead of digging down. My recommendation on club selection is based on reading dave pelz and playing experience, Yes you are right about trying to come down steep on the ball, but if the rough is really tall you have no choice, grass will get between the clubface and the ball. so you need a club that is the least effected by the grass

[jpmonkey69]

Re: Chipping from the rough

Chipping from the rough:

Anyone got any ideas??

What club would you guys use?
Would you be trying to hit down on the ball?

More often than not on a chip of anything under 10 yards off the green I'd be duffing the ball a few yards ahead on me.

I'm not claiming to be a pro, but here's what I do.

I use my lob wedge.. If it's really close (10yards) to the green, but in the (medium) rough I'll use a 1/4 backswing and really try to get in under the ball, trying to leave no divot. This will usually stop it dead on the green and close to the pin for me.

[BigdazUK]

Re: Chipping from the rough

Thanks for the replies. I think my main problem is just not being 100% commited to the shot I want to play and I probably quit on it a bit.

On the subject of Bounce which has come up in this tread a few times.
I was watching the golf channel yesterday and the Acadamy had Butch Harmon and Darren Clarke on it. Darren was saying that he has different wedges with different bounce that he uses depending on where in the world he's playing. Whether it's US, UK, Asia or South Africa. What different condition would require high or low bounce. I'm based in the UK and it's nearly always soggy and wet apart from a month or 2 mid summer. Should I have high bounce, low bounce or does it really not matter for a mid handicapper like me?

Any Ideas??

[LowPost42]

Re: Chipping from the rough

The rule of thumb is to get bounce in accordance with what bunkers you usually play.

Loose sandy bunkers require high bounce, where compacted hard bunkers require low bounce (so the wedges dig).

[gord962]

Re: Chipping from the rough

and how does the club come out of the sand? could it be that it slides through instead of digging down. My recommendation on club selection is based on reading dave pelz and playing experience, Yes you are right about trying to come down steep on the ball, but if the rough is really tall you have no choice, grass will get between the clubface and the ball. so you need a club that is the least effected by the grass

As said before, the bounce of the club hits the sand and bounces back out, it doesn't slide through.

The grass affects all clubs the same - the bounce will not make a difference when trying to get through grass.

[shootin4par]

Re: Chipping from the rough

I will be open to your idea, and in turn can you be open to mine? I guess just saying bounce is not enough, I should also have said the shaper too. the shape of the bottom of the club and the bounce does have an effect of how it gets through rough. If you dont believe me then go take a lob wedge, pitching wedge and sand wedge, find a place where the rough is 6 inches deep, open the clubface five degrees and swing through the grass with all three clubs, do at least five swings a piece. Then set the clubs at your feet and lcose your eyes, pick up the clubs and do more swings and see if you can guess which one is which. AFTER doing that then come back and let us know what you found out. I will do this myself this weekend and let you know if I can predict the clubs. I have done this before but it was a while back so I want to be completely accurate, although I recall this pretty well, in my statements so I will do this again.