My Two Cents Worth on Chipping, Pitching, and Flopping
18 Sep 2011 at 5:33 AM
Here is something I wrote a while back maybe this will help some...
There is a time and place for almost every shot on here. What Bogey wrote is to the point but I like to think that a persons short game is what makes or breaks a player on WGT. When someone starts to scream about how this game sucks the first place I go is to their stats page and look at a few things
1. 1 putt Average
2. 2 Putt Average
3. Sand %
4. Scrambling %
5. GIR
By looking at these stats it will usually tell you about everything you need to know about a player. While it depends on the short game shot I almost always use full to 3/4 backspin on the shot to control the amount of roll. So when do you use each shot? I do not believe there are any set standards but here a few I live by.
1. Chip: Satin Wedge/Calloway- Fringe or under 2 feet from the hole. Average roll with a chip shot with full backspin 2-3 feet on a normal to slightly up hill lie, factor in 1.5 to 2 on a 1-2 down hill lie. Anymore than that look at flop shot.UPDATED Utilizing the cleveland wedge and Nike ball you will get about a 1-2 foot roll.
2. Pitch: Satin Wedges/Calloway Ball -More that 2 feet away from green, ball is not below where I can see the green. Average roll with a pitch shot with full backspin 4-6 feet on a normal lie, 4-5 on uphill lie, add +3 on a downhill lie. UPDATED: Cleveland Wedges/Nike or Calloway Balls: Utilizing the these clubs this shot will stop almost dead to 1 foot roll.
3. Flop: One of the least valued shots on here because most do not know how to use this shot. 95% of the time you should never hit the ding line but stop it at the first marker to the left of the ding line. Doing this will force the ball to go straight where you aim rather than come off the club head to the right. Great shot 15 to 24 feet from the hole. Great shot if you have a large down hill or up hill lie or where you think the shot does not favor a chip or pitch shot. Average roll 3-4, will stop dead with callaway s ball as will it with the Nike balls as well.
4. Full Wedge: I am not sure how many utilize the Satin 50 yd wedge around the green on short shots but I tend to use it a lot and with great accuracy on shots anywhere from 20+ when I want the ball to stop almost dead or need a good backspin to the whole (works best with callaway S). With other balls it will roll 2-3 yds depending on the lie. UPDATED: After the announcement of the cleveland wedges and Nike balls this has dramatically changed how I play this shot now. Play the ball as a straight shot with either no or little backspin. Warning, utilizing full BS will cause the ball to back up 10 -25 feet depending on the green
While I know there are more rules these are just a few of the basics ones I use. All to often I have seen some forum trolls write that you cannot use these with any accuracy and to that I say BS! I have 55+ (149 now) holed approach shots and maybe 10 were lucky shots from long distances. I think it was Avatar Lee that once wrote the great players on this game do not always shot birdies but they rarely have bogies. Some of the best players on here have scrambling and sand %'s in the high 70's to low 80's. While I have not achieved that, being in the mid 60's has allowed me to move to legend and shot under par right away. IMO