The running chip

Played a semi-decent round of golf yesterday and my chipping was amazing ... so much luck, i wonder what i did to deserve such good karma. made some adjustments to my game, mostly to do with my mental game rather than my swing techniques.

anyhow, found this article today while surfing the net (grading quizzes is so boring!). I think it might be helpful for some of you. its a good read and you should read it. yes you know who you are. stop being lazy and asking me to paraphrase/teach it haha :P

RUNNING CHIP
Prepared by: Binh Nguyen
Email: dtbnguyen(at)gmail(dot)com

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this article is to provide details of several methods on playing the running chip shot. These ideas have been drawn from my own personal experimentation, golf articles that I have happened to come across, as well as shots that I may have seen whether they may have been from amateur or professional players.

Please note that I am not a professional golfer or instructor nor do I have intention becoming one. Golf was and continues to remain a marvellous curiosity in my life and will continue to remain so. If possible and whenever there are competent and ethical professionals near by, by all means seek their help. They have spent years studying existing methodologies and understand what techniques may suit your existing physical and mental capabilities.

This document will be updated over time as new theories come to light.

RUNNING CHIP

The running chip is perhaps one of the easiest shots that the golfer will ever learn and yet time and time again it seems as though I see my playing partners either scull their chips across the green or leave the shot short. There are many different ways to play this shot and this document will touch on some of my favoured methods of playing it. However, all of these shots have one fundamentals to them. Your wrists should never break but your hands, arms, and shoulders should remain relatively 'soft'.

The reason why I believe that the hands, arms, and shoulders should remain relatively 'soft' is because unbalanced tension can result in drastic changes in your takeaway and subsequently your swing. For example, tense up your right arm while maintaining light tension in your left side and attempt to start your backswing. You'll notice that your takeaway will tend to come back inside. Obviously, the converse will be true if you attempt to do the opposite.

Reducing tension in your body quite simply makes it easier for you to reproduce a single swing path which makes all shots thereafter much more predictable.

While many teachers advocate having a completely still head for these type of shots I believe that this only pertains to shorter shots. On longer shots I find it far easier to control distance if I let the head and upper torso rotate at the same radial velocity as the the golf club. Doing so mitigates the chances that the head and neck introduces some resistance to the movement of the clubhead which would make distance control less predictable.

There should also be a minimal amount of weight shift as this could potentially make distance control far more difficult (most teachers advocate placing your weight forward and leaving it there but I've found that moving it around and keeping your weight stable can have the same effect with an added benefit – trajectory control (please check the author's website for further details in the article entitled 'Shot Shaping').

The generally accepted method of playing this shot though is to have a slightly open stance, with your weight over the front foot (and keeping it there throughout the shot), play the ball slightly further back in your stance than centre, and use your shoulders and arms to control the distance that the shot travels. My only problem with this method is that it can sometimes result in backspin (due to the steep angle of attack that the club travels down on the ball from because it is placed further back in the stance) which can make the roll of the ball difficult to predict after it hits the ground. Having a slightly open stance can also wreak havoc with your alignment if you do not play or practice regularly and have therefore not adapted to having such a stance.

My preferred method to play this shot is to play it from a square stance, balanced weight, with the ball slightly forward of the middle of my stance with light grip pressure while using a reverse overlap (a putter type grip) (if you feel more comfortable using a conventional swing grip or any other type of grip for that matter then please feel free to use it. I often use an interlocking grip on longer shots as I find it difficult to develop power using a reverse overlap grip). You then control the distance that the ball will travel by either changing the length of your backswing and follow through (which is controlled primarily by your shoulders) or changing the speed at which your shoulders and arms swing the club). To ensure that there is a minimal amount of backspin on the shot please ensure that the clubhead remains close to the ground at all times and that you maintain a relatively constant tempo. This ensures that you do not 'descend' on the shot which could create unwanted backspin and reduce the predictability of the roll once the ball hits the ground.

Another method that I've come across is quite difficult to perfect but can produce good results if you do not find the previous two methods to your liking. You basically have an open stance, with your weight on your front foot, with a slightly backward of centre ball position, take the club back, let it drop back towards the ball, and then push the butt of the club slightly (using your hands) forward on the way down which will allow you to control the distance that the ball
travels.

Finally, for those people who have a tendency to 'control' their shots via their hands a shot you should try is a variation of the 'bunt' shot in baseball. You basically play with an open stance, with your weight on your front foot, with a centre ball position. You take the club back and then 'bunt' (decelerate immediately after you hit the ball) the ball forward. The only problem with this shot is that it can be sometimes difficult to predict if you are playing out of particularly thick
'rough' or 'fringe' grass.

It should be noted that this type of shot can be played with virtually any club in your bag. For instance, Chi Chi Rodriguez often used a 7-wood to chip while other professional players today may use anything from a wedge, iron, hybrid, or wood (few people use the driver or 1-wood to chip obviously due to its size and the length of the shaft which would make it awkward to chip with) to chip with.

On the other hand, it is patently clear that some people find that mastering a single club for all shots makes life easier and is less time consuming (to learn and select when the time comes for club selection) for them and use. The only problem with this approach is that it can make 'running' or 'lofting' the shot somewhat awkward at times. For example, it is far easier to run a shot using a short iron than a wedge (even if you place the ball backwards in your stance to lower the ballflight). For this reason, I advocate the use of at least three clubs to chip with. One should be a wedge (for slightly lofted shots), another should be a short iron (which will give you a combination of loft and roll), and finally one should be a mid-iron or hybrid (which will give you a trajectory that is based primarily around roll).

Like other golf shots can change the height of the shot by simply changing the ball position of the shot (further forward for higher ballflight and further backward for lower ballflight) (For further information on trajectory manipulation please see the document entitled “Shot Shaping” at the author's website).

Overall, this is a very simple shot. However, like many other worthwhile things in life it does requires work/practice in order to perfect especially with regards to how far the ball should land in front of the hole before 'releasing'. Hopefully, some time on the practice green will ensure that you develop a feel of how much this distance actually is.