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Anyone figured out chipping and sand play?

Thu, Dec 8 2011 5:52 PM (24 replies)
  • ZekeSr
    36 Posts
    Wed, Oct 7 2009 10:19 AM

    Some ridiculous things about this game in this area are Bethpage not even being able to reach the green without a 3W on some holes if you do not have the wind behind you.  I to have issues trying to figure out what to do around the greens with my wedges and in the sand.  If you're in the deep rough I hit it all the way and it goes 5 feet??  Same thing in the sand you're either to long or to short.  Then I believe the green is #16 on Bethpage nearly impossible to even par the dang thing with not only the distance to reach the green then the severe slope.  Probably 3-4 holes on Bethpage are so eleveated you just cannot reach the green with any type of consistency without bombing a 3W over it.  Sure I am a master level but still have issues with this.  Would love some helpful responses instead of the sarcastic condescending ones that are typical of some......thank you. 

  • PugsAce
    1,825 Posts
    Wed, Oct 7 2009 11:52 AM

    First off... I wouldn't go by the earlier posts in this thread. The game must've changed since March, because the ideas to play out of the sand around the greens are only marginally correct, IMHO. 

    It's really not that tough. Just think about it like real golf... watch where the club goes on the backswing for the distance you need. Yes - actually most often, it IS around 90% of the meter, but sometimes it's less - like around 65-75%. If your backswing is smooth (steady-paced), you'll notice the meter start to slow down as you reach the optimal shot strength. I usually go a little past that, and usually end-up around the hole. Pay attention to where you want to land it and the elevation change to that point on the green for the club choice, but still use the distance-to-the-hole for the shot strength.

    BUT MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL... USE THE "FLOP" SHOT! Also, you MUST place your target well-left of the intended spot where you wish to land it! The wind doesn't come into play with such a short flop shot (usually... unless you're fighting a 20+mph cross-wind, or tail-wind). Naturally, placing the target depends on the slope of the green, as well. Start out (while practicing these shots) by aiming left a 1/2 grid. This means 1/2 of the entire grid, not a "grid square". ALWAYS hit the center line when playing any shot from the sand. The results of a mis-hit are very unforgiving!

    Also, try not to take much sand with your shot. I always put the "spot" on the ball where the ball meets the sand and use the loft of the club to give the ball tragectory. However, I must say that I'm still experimenting with taking more and more sand, and trying to learn the appropriate strength for each shot as I do. I've found that "low juice" (backspin) seems to work best with the flop because this makes for very little roll after the ball lands on the green (depending on the slope and distance the ball "falls" from it's apex in the tragectory, of course).  Believe me, I'm in the sand ALOT, because I try to get the ball close to the flag on my approach shots 9 times out of 10. Two or three out of those nine times, the shot is short or sometimes left/right which puts me in the bunker, but with the flop-shot in my arsenal, I don't sweat it.

    This "technique" also works when "flopping" a shot out of rough around the green (out to about 33 yards for the Ping G10 pro set wedges - 54&60degree). I'm sure there will be varying levels of success with different clubs, but this will give you some idea of what can be accomplished.

    As has been mentioned before, don't chip around the green unless you can use enough power to get the ball out of the rough/fringe on the fly. It will stop dead if it hits rough/fringe before it touches the green.

    Bottom line: Practice! Try this out on some practice holes over and over until you see consistency, before taking it into a ranked round. And don't forget to convert yards to feet when judging how far the ball will roll after it hits the green. If you forget, your ball will undoubtedly roll past the cup (or come-up short) on the more demanding greens.

    Good Luck! And by all means, post back your results after giving it some honest effort. I'm sure others, as well as myself, will be interested in hearing them.

  • molideha
    213 Posts
    Wed, Oct 7 2009 12:29 PM

    /echo pugs

    i would add this; play BPB in practice mode and take dead aim with your approach shots on every hole to a green side bunker...then practice your flop shots...i use my 54w for 20-32 yd flops and my starter LW for 10-19 yd flops.

    54w rated at 28 yards on flop can easily go 32+ with a lil top spin.

    starter LW rated at 16 yards on flop can easily go 19+ with a lil top spin.

    20% sand usually has a -10% effect on a flop

    holes like BPB #9, when with a tail wind my chancees of bird from the front right bunker at 14 yards is about equal to my chances of draining a 35' putt coming back, meaning i take dead aim trying to carry to 1 yard of rough and ok if i hit short to the bunker.

    flop from rough is just as useful; 40% rough has a -20% effect on the flop yardage.

    i never chip unless on the fringe or in 25% rough inches from the fringe...i never pitch, as the roll from a pitch seems unpredictable.

    gl

  • YankeeJim
    25,827 Posts
    Wed, Oct 7 2009 12:35 PM

    Pug- Something else to add to your arsenal. On the flop shot you don't need to aim way left. The triangle lines up exactly with the first mark to the left of perfect. Your yardage decreases but the aim is exact and the ball will land on the triangle. Just figure out for your wedges how the distance changes. On my Satin 54w a full flop from 40-50 rough goes 29 yds when you hit that mark. I have a few flop-ins recorded to show this and I have found using the flop from a whole bunch of places close in (under 37 but from every lie) will get you 1-putt close, or in. Mind you, that line is a *** to hit but missing it affects the short like you would expect.

    Zeke-I don't even carry a 3w and the only green I can't get to without wind is the long dogleg par 4 on the back. Pointing and clicking by the numbers doesn't work well at BPB-you have to get creative. I know this sounds a little general in nature but what I mean is try different approaches that you might think are wrong. A lot of the pins on the long par 4's are set back so a shorter clubs with topspin will let you roll up to the cup instead of trying to stick it.

    That pain in the ass par 3 17 at BPB is a good example of trying something different. For as long as I've been playing I've pounded away at that green with my 187yd Taylor 4i from every angle trying to stop it birdie close. I finally gave up and decided to blast a 3i over and play from behind. I miss hit the first try and damned if it didn't get 5 ft away from the pin. DUH-use the 3i, bozo. LOL-I have ever since and now can get birdie putts 1/2 the time. The other 1/2 is easy flops or chips from the back edge for par putts.

    Play a few rounds with the really good players and check out how they manage the course. Ask questions, they don't bite. Look at the other players' bag and see how they use what they have-you'll be surprised at what you learn. GL

    YJ

     

     

  • ZekeSr
    36 Posts
    Wed, Oct 7 2009 3:59 PM

    Now that is all some very useful information and much appreciated.  I am  going to go out and get these down so I can improve my 65.20 average even more.  I will post an update.....thanks again.

  • birdwell
    561 Posts
    Thu, Oct 8 2009 6:49 PM

    Yankee Jim's advise for hitting the flop early works well in some situations. In deeper or especially hard sand this will probably result in your ball landing right back in the bunker though.

     

    try this....

    switch to the chip shot, view the reverse, and move the triangle right - a little over halfway for shorter flops... closer to the edge for longer ones. this will also give you a chance to read the green and adjust your aim for the run of the green. Switch back to the flop and fire away with the appropriate power.

    I play to the left front side bunker on BP #4 80% of the time and knock it within 1 yard most everytime. I have a replay where I holed it for an eagle, check it out. Also a flopped in birdie on #17 - even though it says #16 - lol. 

    Also check out the "chip" in for birdie on #15 - it's actually a pitch. Guess I should be more careful naming replays

  • MJBboyrox
    31 Posts
    Tue, Oct 13 2009 4:40 PM

    I have learned a little something about sand shots. Inside 50ft, they can be easy. Take a LW and if the shot is 37ft, add another 5 feet for a 10-20% lie. Add some BS and knock it in 5 ft everytime. Of course,  this calls for practice.

     

    MJ

  • golferfrank63
    187 Posts
    Sun, Dec 4 2011 4:10 AM

    if you hit the line b4 the ding line it will go str use backspin

  • SGTBilko
    1,686 Posts
    Sun, Dec 4 2011 4:16 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 4 things

    1. 1 putt Average
    2. 2 Putt Average
    3. Sand %
    4. Scrambling %

    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: 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.

    2. Pitch: 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.

    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.

    4. Full Wedge: I am not sure how many utilize the 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.

    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 100+ 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

  • piztaker
    5,743 Posts
    Sun, Dec 4 2011 4:25 AM

    golferfrank63:

    if you hit the line b4 the ding line it will go str use backspin

     

    Meanwhile 26 months later...

     

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