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Unbearably frustrated with short iron game!!!

• pukiebear 72 Posts

  Wed, Jul 18 2012 10:42 PM

  Is there some trick to use when chipping from 15ft or less from the rough surrounding the green?  More often than not, my first attempt ends up dribbling about 2" in front of me.  Its only on my 2nd (or additional) attempts that my shot actually does what I expect it to do. This is without question the weakest part of my game and I've seen no improvement no matter how much I practice it.  I've tried using different wedges and different swing types (full, pitch, chip, etc), but the results are inconsistent.  Every so often, I can hit a decent shot, but at this point, its a crap shoot.  Any suggestions?

  Thanks

   

• lee22sharon 1,419 Posts

  Wed, Jul 18 2012 11:37 PM

  I am not the best chip player here by any means, but i did read the part about chipping and pitch strokes.  Watched the video's. 

  My personal take is never chip a shot unless on the fringe within 25% of the total distance to the cup from the edge of the green, and never if penalty lie is over 25%. 

   The auto caddie is a notorious lier, and will sink your efforts to play a good intelligent short game everytime.  Never just take the auto caddie's recommendation! 

   Most of my short game is with wedges, either full, shortened up to not more than 75%, punch shot, same 75% rule, and the flop shot.  As with any stroke it is imperative that you hit the dinger.  Unless you have clubs with a lot of "forgiveness"

  The only club I own that will allow me to go under the 75% rule is my shortest wedge.  Even then accuracy and distance will be less than optimal.  Hope it helps.  My Nickle.

   

• WGTicon 12,511 Posts

  Wed, Jul 18 2012 11:57 PM

  hi

  give this a read. it should help you.

  generally speaking, I would never want to chip from 30/40 rough or when it's downhill to the pin.

  always try to use closest possible club when you chip, so if you have 15ft chip use 6-7 chip club and not try to hit 15 chip club with 50% power ---> will lead to very inconsistent results.

  -wgticon

• TWOMINUSONE 2,580 Posts

  Thu, Jul 19 2012 12:31 AM

  What i do is i draw the pointer back to the edge of the green. If its more than 3 yards away from me, then i wont play the chip shot. I have some good success with the chip shot, so this works for me. I even do this from 40% rough, and always with full backspin. So in a nutshell, i wont use the chip if the edge of the green is more than 3 yards away, practice it, see what happens. 

• alosso 21,060 Posts

  Thu, Jul 19 2012 1:14 AM

  lee22sharon:

  My personal take is never chip a shot unless on the fringe within 25% of the total distance to the cup from the edge of the green, and never if penalty lie is over 25%. 

  [...]

  Most of my short game is with wedges, either full, shortened up to not more than 75%, punch shot, same 75% rule, and the flop shot.  As with any stroke it is imperative that you hit the dinger.  Unless you have clubs with a lot of "forgiveness"

  The only club I own that will allow me to go under the 75% rule is my shortest wedge.  Even then accuracy and distance will be less than optimal.  Hope it helps.  My Nickle.

  Full ACK, except I play punch shots/full bs from the bunkers with a minimum of 50, from easier lies 45 %.

  The first "trick" to do is to buy a pair of decent wedges which Pukie did.

  Pukie, unfortunately you have no 64° wedge in your bag, you might consider to add it for the short-short game (e.g. 12 yds from bunker, 9 yds inwards for chips). You might consider to drop your hybrid for it, if the 3WD punch would be adequate.

• pukiebear 72 Posts

  Thu, Jul 19 2012 4:08 AM

  Thank you all for the great suggestions.  I'll give them a shot and let you know how it goes.

• alosso 21,060 Posts

  Thu, Jul 19 2012 9:59 PM

  This is to explain "Full ACK" since I've been asked.

  ACK = acknowledge

• alea4d2s6 1 Posts

  Sat, Jul 21 2012 1:35 AM

  what is the dinger?

• alosso 21,060 Posts

  Sat, Jul 21 2012 1:08 PM

  The "ding" is the line on the meter which responds "excellent" when you hit it. It will be shown to you when you do not stop the meter movement twice in a row.

  It's got this name because a "ding" sound will be heard if you hit it (and sound is on).

  The "dinger" may the player hitting the ding(?) ;->

• girtas 3 Posts

  Sat, Jul 21 2012 1:47 PM

  I find like you the short game is imperative to master. To that extent I have only my driver and 3w and purchased an additional wedge for my bag. I have a PW, 56, 60 and 64 set of wedges so I have a lot more flexibility.