Do you want to know the difference between a chip shot and a pitch shot?
Having trouble selecting the correct shot choice around the green?
Hey this is Sean McTernan and you are watching another episode of My Golf Tutor, the number
one place on the internet for you to improve your game the fastest.
Welcome back and todays question comes from Dan and Dan writes, hey Sean I have a lot
of difficulty deciding the correct shot to play around the green.
Sometimes I don't know if I should be playing a chip shot or pitch shot, have you any advice?
Dan, thanks very much for your question, I think the first thing we need to define is
what is a chip shot and what is a pitch shot.
I would consider a pitch shot to be a high shot that you would hit two thirds of the
way and it would release the last third.
A chip shot would be planned lower and closer to the ground.
So it would land probably a third of the way and release the other two thirds.
A big part of deciding what shot to play is the first thing going to be the lie.
Typically when hitting pitch shots or chip shots you do want the first bounce to be on
the green, if at all possible.
There are occasions where it is impossible to have this happen.
Typically for the ball to get a good consistent release we want that first bounce of the ball
to be on the green.
The second thing you want to take into consideration is what you have to hit over.
As you can see here I probably have fairway half way between me and the pin.
I'm going to have to hit a higher shot here because I want that first bounce to be on
the green and I want it to release up to the hole.
If I was going to hit a lower shot or chip shot here, I would be bouncing it into the
fairway and I can't really predict accurately how the ball is going to release.
I have a better chance of how it going to release once it gets on the green.
So here we have a thirty yard pitch shot, I probably have maybe seventeen or eighteen
yards of fairway to hit over.
Then the pin is on another fifteen yards.
So lets go ahead, I'm going to hit a pitch shot here, it is going to come out a little
high and I'm going to carry it two thirds of the way and it will release the other third.
So Dan we just talked about a pitch shot and you can see I landed it two thirds of the
way and it released the final third.
Here we are in a situation where we are very close to the fringe, but we are just far enough
off that we can't putt the ball.
Because there is two much grass on the fairway.
So I'm going to play a chip shot which is going to be a little lower to the ground.
I'm going to try and bump it a third of the way and let it release two thirds of the way.
I'm going to play this with a seven iron and you can use an eight iron.
From a course management stand point you always want to play it with the least loft possible
because we still want that first bounce to be on the green.
The beauty of this shot if you miss strike it a little bit or don't quite hit it how
you want it is still going to release and get up closer to the pin than if you used
a sand wedge or lob wedge and you miss struck that club.
This is a percentage shot and like I said you want that opportunity to get the ball
low to the ground and releasing and try and do it every time.
So for this shot I am going to stand a little closer to the ball, my feet are going to be
a little narrower.
There is going to be more like a putter, more like a putting stroke.
The shaft is going to be a little bit steeper, just like a putter.
I hope that video helps and if you or anyone else about your golf game please leave a comment
in the comment section below.
And finally don't forget to go to MyGolfTutor.com and sign up for our email newsletter where
I give my best tips and information.