Chipping: Choosing the Right Club

How to choose the right club when chipping
PGA Professional Rick Sessinghaus shows how to use different clubs for different chips

Do you automatically reach for the same club every time you miss the green and need to chip? Whether it’s your pitching wedge or 60-degree lob wedge, the answer for many of us is “yes.” You may have heard different tips on how you could chip with your 7-iron or hit a nice little flop shot with your sand wedge, but you often instinctually grab the same trusty club over and over again. We all do it.

The goal is to get up and down and it doesn’t matter how you do it, but many amateur golfers struggle to consistently hit solid chips.

Rick Sessinghaus is the PGA Professional at Valencia Country Club and demonstrates in the video below how the “same” chip can be hit numerous different ways with different clubs. In fact, he hits three different shots from the same position: one with a 60-degree wedge, one with a gap wedge, and one with an 8-iron. Though his teaching is aimed at juniors, any golfer would be wise to listen to the advice.

Watch the video below and learn:

  • The benefits of different lofts in your chip shots
  • The risk you can minimize by putting away your lob wedge
  • How using an iron with less loft can make your chip more like a putt

These simple tips may seem basic to an avid golfer, but old habits can die hard. Head to your local practice spot and start experimenting with different chip shots and different clubs around the green. It may seem as though you have several new clubs in your bag…and you may just find you have a new favorite shot to get up and down.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Watching Your Weight on Pitches and Chips

How to Hit the Perfect Flop Shot

How to Get Backspin on Your Wedges

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