How to Chip a Golf Ball

Video Transcript

"Whenever you're trying to chip a golf ball, your main goal is to get the ball on the green close to the hole. My name is Jared Garbett, and I'm with Echo Farms Golf and Country Club, and today I'm going to teach you how to properly chip a golf ball. You can chip a golf ball with several different clubs, your lob wedge, your sand wedge, or a short iron. All of these will have different effects whenever they hit the golf ball. Your lob wedge you will use if you're trying to carry it far and stop it quick. Your sand wedge, a good rule of thumb is hit halfway and let it roll the rest of the way. And for a short iron, you're barely going to want to get it on the green, and go ahead and let it start rolling toward the hole. Today, I'm going to chip with a lob wedge. Whenever you chip the ball, you're going to sit up with your stance parallel to your target. You're going to grip the club as if you were going to make a full swing, but you're only going to carry the club back no farther than the point of your knees. Carry the club back to your knees, and follow through to about your waist...no higher than your shoulder, though. What this does is gets the ball in the air, and get it rolling toward the hole. So I'll sit up to the ball, take it back, take a few practice swings catching mostly grass. All I want to do is clip the golf ball hard enough to get it to go onto the green, and get it rolling toward the hole. With my sand wedge, I'm going to try and hit it about half way there, so I'm not going to want to get it all the way to the hole, just fly it about half way toward the hole. And with my short iron, I want to chip it a short distance, and let it keep rolling toward the hole. And that is how you properly chip a golf ball with a lob wedge, sand wedge or short iron."