Chipping for Success - Fit The Club To The Shot

I watched a local Golf Club tournament over the weekend. Several players asked for some Tips on chipping. Good idea. Most players don't spend enough time (if any) working on the chip shot around the green.

The biggest issues I observed was the tendency to use a Club with too much loft and to not use even the most basic chipping techniques. The goals, for most Chips, is to get the golf ball on the green and rolling as soon as possible.

Unless you have a bunker to go over, which is more of a "pitch shot" or very close Pin ( say withing 10 feet) try using a 7 or 8 Iron. Set up like a Putt, positon your hands forward a bit toward the target and keep them ahead through out the smooth stroke.

Choose a Putter and Fit Your Tempo

A Putter is just as important and I believe more important to Fit than other clubs in your Set. Think about this...if you two-putt all 18 holes in a round (very good average) and you shoot even Par 72, 50% of your total shots have been Putts!


The putter length, Lie, Grip, Weight and Loft (yes putters have about 4 degrees of loft) all must be Fit to you. Next, you have to find a Tempo but please find a "Tempo". The best putting is a "putting stroke" not a "putting hit". The ball just gets in the way of your stroke. Watch Tiger Woods and you will get the "tempo" thing.

Choose the Right Club "Off-Set" to Fit Your Needs

Club "Off-Set" is described as the degree to which the center-line of the shaft is off-set toward or past the leading edge of the Club Head. The major swing benefit of added off-set is allowing the club head a fraction of a second more time to square up toward the target line.

If you find that you are pushing the ball to the right, fadding or slicing (right handers), More Off-Set can help. If you are pulling, drawing too much or hooking, check to make sure you don't have added Off-set.

How To Fit Wedges For Your Course

There are a lot of factors that go into fitting your Wedges to fit the course(s) you play most often. One important factor is the club head leading edge. While there are numerous "grinds" for the leading edge, think in terms of Sharp, Medium & Blunt. The Sharp leading edge is for digging into harder turf or thin-hard sand, Medium is for a wider group of conditions and Blunt would be for soft turf or fluffy sand (where you don't want to dig in).

If you are having trouble with fat shots or big divots..check to see if the leading edge is too sharp. If you are bouncing the club into the ball (thin or skulled shots) or not getting under your sand shots, your leading edge may be too Blunt.

Driver Fitting A Key To Consistency

Most have heard the saying..."Drive for show, Putt for dough." It is true that solid putting is a must and over comes a lot of other shot mistakes. That said, all year I have watched golfers I play with and my own game and I will make this statement...'If You Can't Get Off The Tee with Directional Control and reasonable distance, you will struggle throughout your round and put excessive pressure on all other phases of your game.'

On most courses, there are 4 Par Three's per 18 holes leaving 14 "Driving-holes." If you hit 10 or more Driving-hole fairways, you will consistently shoot lower scores. There are two main solutions. First,Skill improvent through practice and lessons. Second, custom Fit Drivers. With today's Driver club options and new custom fitting techniques, it is possible to narrow the bad shots and increase fairways hit in regulation.

Chipping Can Lower Your Scores

Improved chipping takes strokes off your game and custom fitted wedges makes good chipping better.

Many golfers who want to improve spend many hours practicing hitting Drivers, Full-shot Irons, Fairway Woods and Hybrids, I am amazed how few spend as much time with the short game...particularly Chipping. A good estimate is that mastering the chipping skills could reduce at least 4 - 6 shots per 18 hole round. Regardless of how good a player you are, you'll eventually find yourself faced with a little chip ... First, start by choosing the proper club for the shot at hand.


The general rule of thumb is to select a club that will get the ball onto the green rolling much like a putt. Could be a 7 -8-9-PW, etc. A little practice will tell you. The proper Club is also the right Set of Clubs, particularly in the Wedges. They must be Fit for Loft, Lie & Length to increase the consistency of each Chip or Pitch shot.

Fit Your Clubs - Trust Your Swing

Over the weekend, I watched a local club Tournament where several of the two-player teams in the play-offs were friends. Two had custom fitted clubs I had set up for them one of which was a putter. This customer struggled with consistency with the Putter. His un-fitted Putter was the wrong length, wrong Lie, wrong loft. We fit him exactly. His putting has improved.

During the second round of the tournament, during pre-game putting Green practice, he allowed that he was not putting well. He felt he was still guding the putter (a previous problem). He asked me to watch him practice. After several Putts off-line I said..."your custom fitted putter is set up exactly for you in every way right? It feels good, you like the way it rolls the Putts, right?" He agreed. So I suggested this, and it applys to all of us, "just trust your stroke!"

Find your aiming point and break, practice your stroke to get the speed, set up and trust your stroke. Release the putter through the stroke, don't look up...you have a custom fitted putter...just trust yourself. He made the play offs!

Fitting The Grip For Better Results

One of the least utilized fitting techniques involves your golf club grips. When I check clubs for custom fittin customers, I am always amazed at the differences in Grip Size unique to each golfer. Standard Grip sizes include ladies (undersized), standard, mid-size, oversize and jumbo.
But...not everyone fits into the standard.
The easiest test for how your "current grips" fit is to grip you club as if you are ready to hit, then simply take your right hand off the club (left hand for left handers) and see if the fingers of the left hand still on the grip just lightly touch the plam of that hand. If there is a gap, your grip is too big, if your fingers are pressing into your plam the grip is too small.

Tournament Play - Everyone Makes Mistakes

In a local club tournament (earlier Blog) I experienced and observed an interesting phenomenom of playing under the pressure of a tournament. Many players who make a mistake...miss hit, slice or draw into the rough, into traps or the water, three-putts, etc...get down on themselves and let it effect their game after the bad shot.


What you learn with expereince is that almost all players in the tournament will also make mistakes, it's just a matter of time. It happens in every round, we all will make mistakes.


Learn to put your bad shot or bad hole behind you. Think like this, "I can do better, stay positive and the opponent is going to make mistakes to, I just need to stay focused and be ready."

Custom Fitted Wedges - Create Confidence

I love talking about the short game and the importance of the Wedges in a golfers set. The Wedges are the scoring clubs. From 100 yards and in they set up the putter and your scoring success. They need to be cutome fit to your abilities and length, loft, Lie and weight.




When you know that you have the right Wedges for your game and your course conditions, you practice purposefully to know how far each Wedge goes with different swings (1/4, 1/2, 3/4 backswings) you can be confident. You approach each shot knowing your Wedges are set up just rihgt for you, put a good swing on the shot and trust the results. Bingo...lower scores.

Accuracy Improved By Simple Club Fitting

Accuracy with the Irons clubs is effected the most by the "Lie" of each club. The lie is how level to the ground your club is at contact. If the lie is "toe-up", the club hits the ground heel-first and can spin to the right resulting in a shot off taget to the Left (for right handers). If the lie of the irons are "heel-up" the clubs toe hits the ground first, causing the heel to swing through first and she shot right off target.



Have the "Lie" of each club checked dynamically, during the actual swing on a Lie-Board. Have each irons that is hitting the groun etiehr toe or heel first adjusted. Your accuracy and control will improve.

Fairway Woods or Hybrids - Choose One

With the growing popularity of Hybrid clubs, a number of my club fitting clients wonder which is right for them. The best gauge is your swing plane. If you have a “flatter” swing plane, Hybrids are better.. they are shorter and a bit flatter in the lie.

If your swing is more upright, the Fairway wood is generally a better choice. Have a friend stand behind you and watch your swing plane and see if the the club is below the angle of your left arm (right handed golfers) at the top of the swing, more around your body, a flat swing. If above, a more upright swing.

Got a Three-some? Here's A Fun Game

Play Nine Ball. A fun golf game when you only have three players is Nine Ball. Use full handicaps. Each Hole has 9 points to award; 5 points for low ball, 3 points for second and 1 point for third per hole. If two tie for low on a hole they each get 4 points and the high score gets 1 point.

If two tie for second, they each get -two points and low ball gets 5. At the end, tally up the points and see who owes who what. You can play for a penny a point a dime or more. You will ber surprised how close it usually is at the end

Sand Traps Got You Sand Blasted!

Many players and most higher handicappers struggle with the Sand shot around the Green. Most players know the basics…Open your stance, open your Club Face, Hit 2- 3 inches behind the Ball and follow through…works for the Pros!

When I fit a client who is struggling to get out of "Green-side Bunkers," I set them up with a 58 – 60 degree Wedge with a lot of Bounce Angle and wider sole. This way they can open the stance slightly, keep the Club square and hit just a little behind the ball….pops right out.

Fitting The Variety Of Wedges

It wasn't long ago that a set of Irons had a Pitching Wedge & Sand Wedge. Today the Wedge Club set make-up has grown significantly. Consider what is possible in your Wedges. Pitching Wedge, Gap Wedge, Weak Sand Wedge, Strong Sand Wedge, Gap Wedge and Super Gap Wedge.

Fitting the right wedges depends on; skill, course conditions, course design, distance management from 100 yards in to the Green. Getting the right Fit and Wedge set for your game has never been more important.