Ball Position When Chipping/Pitching...

[Scragger63]

On Saturday morning before teeing off in my club's daily comp round, I had two different fellows give me two different opinions as to ball position when chipping or pitching...

One fellow said play the ball forward, the other said play the ball back...

Understanding this may be a matter of personal preference, I thought I might pose this as a question...

Do you prefer the ball forward or back in your stance when pitching or chipping??

[jpmonkey69]

Re: Ball Position When Chipping/Pitching...

When pitching I have the ball back in my stance, as I want it to stop earlier with less roll.

If I have the ball too far forward, it tends to run a lot after a bounce.

[peter3]

Re: Ball Position When Chipping/Pitching...

If you have a somewhat clean lie, it is easier for most players to hit down on the ball and achieve crisp contact with the ball further back. The ball will fly at a lower trajectory.

If the ball is in thicker grass and/or you want to hit a bunker type shot or flop the ball high in the air, place it forward. You will be more prone to skull it, so be careful.

In short: back is safer, forward is cooler

[BrianW]

Re: Ball Position When Chipping/Pitching...

Place the ball exactly half way between your ankles when using wedges. The two exceptions are when playing out of sand where it should be in line with the left heel, or when you need a knockdown flight in windy conditions where it is played from the right heel.

Placing the ball forwards will encourage you to slide your knees and hips into the shot resulting in a fat or flippy contact. Set back will de-loft the club and may create an open clubface pushing the ball right.

If you wish to create a controlled finesse wedge shot that flies a predictable distance and height, you must have a solid reference for all wedges.

[LowPost42]

Re: Ball Position When Chipping/Pitching...

I've been re-reading this subject lately. (Actually, I've been reading Golf:How Good do you want to be? By Bill Kroen, and liaisoning with my coach).

BrianW gives what I've come to conclude as the absolute forward position for the ball for a chip or pitch. The ball should be no further ahead than middle, preferably 1 ball back of middle to ensure that you hit ball first, and cleanly. You really have to have bad mechanics to put the ball back behind middle and still hit it fat. It's much easier to both fat and thin the ball if it's forward. Save ball up in the stance for the bunker.

[vp27519]

Re: Ball Position When Chipping/Pitching...

Hi Scragger,

Ball position is all dependant on the trajectory you're after, lie and so on.

When chipping or pitching, one's address is slightly open. Thus, the ball position will appear to be in a certain place in your stance. If you were to square up, you'd find the ball in a totally different position.

For chipping and pitching I vary the ball position. More often than not though, when chipping, the ball is in line with my big right toe (r/h) and for pitching, just back of centre.

May I suggest putting the ball in your normal position when square and then change your stance as if you were about to chip. You will see what I mean about the perceived ball position.

Scragger, vary the ball position, club face and the use of hard or soft hands, to vary your shot.

[BrianW]

Re: Ball Position When Chipping/Pitching...

My previous reply was related to pitching only, I would reiterate that the ball should be midway between the ankles (See Dave Pelz short game bible)

For chipping place the feet close together and open to the target, place the ball back, off the right ankle