The Lambert Golf Academy Chipping Series

Stuart Lambert

Oct 6

6 min read

Turning Missed Greens Into Opportunities

After spending the Putting Series looking closely at what happens on the green, it seems only natural to move a few yards away from it.

Welcome to The Chipping Series.

I chose chipping as the next series because it is one of the most important scoring skills in golf, but it is also one of the areas where I see golfers make the game much more difficult than it needs to be. A missed green does not have to mean a big number. In many situations, a simple, well-planned chip can turn a missed green into a realistic opportunity to save par or, at the very least, take the big number out of play.

Yet for many golfers, standing beside the green with a wedge in their hands creates more anxiety than confidence.

Should I use my sand wedge?
My pitching wedge?
Should I open the clubface?
Should I put the ball back in my stance?
Should my hands be forward?
Do I use my wrists?
Should I try to land it next to the hole?
Should I bump it into the hill?
What happens if I blade it across the green?

That is a lot to think about for a shot that may only travel 20 or 30 yards. My goal with this series is to simplify it.

Chipping Is More Than Technique

When golfers struggle with chipping, the natural reaction is usually to start changing the technique. Move the ball back. Move the hands forward. Keep the wrists firm. Lean left. Keep your head down. Accelerate through the ball.

Before long, a relatively simple golf shot has become a complicated collection of swing thoughts. Technique certainly matters, and we are going to spend plenty of time discussing it throughout this series. But good chipping involves much more than knowing how to move the club. It starts with understanding the shot in front of you.

What is the lie?
How much green do you have to work with?
Is the green running toward you or away from you?
Is the shot uphill or downhill?
Where does the ball need to land?
How much will it roll after it lands?
What club gives you the best chance of producing that result?

Those decisions happen before the club ever starts moving. That is one of the reasons I wanted to dedicate an entire series to chipping. I do not simply want to show you how to hit a chip shot. I want to help you understand how to choose and play the right chip shot for the situation in front of you.

A Missed Green Is Not the End of the Hole

Golfers miss greens. Good golfers miss greens. Tour professionals miss greens. That is golf. The difference is often what happens next. When you miss a green, your objective changes. You are no longer trying to hit the green in regulation. Now you are trying to recover, give yourself a reasonable putt, and finish the hole with as few additional strokes as possible. This is where chipping can have a significant impact on scoring.

You do not have to hit every chip to three feet. You do not have to hole chip shots. You do not need a highlight-reel short game. You need a short game that is predictable. If you can consistently get the ball onto the green, control where it lands, predict how it will roll, and leave yourself a reasonable putt, you can begin eliminating many of the unnecessary strokes that appear around the green.

A chunked chip that travels five feet costs a stroke. A bladed chip across the green can cost more than one. A poor club choice can turn a relatively straightforward shot into something much more difficult.

But a simple chip that finishes eight or ten feet from the hole still gives you an opportunity to make the putt. And even when you do not make it, you have probably limited the damage. That matters.

The Connection Between Chipping and Putting

One of the reasons chipping makes so much sense as the next series is that putting and chipping are closely connected. When you hit a chip shot, only part of the shot happens in the air.

Once the ball lands on the green, it begins behaving much more like a putt. It responds to speed. It responds to slope. It responds to the contours of the green. The amount of break changes depending on how fast the ball is traveling.

That means many of the concepts we discussed during the Putting Series are still important. We still need to read the green. We still need to understand speed. We still need to identify the line the ball will travel. The difference is that now we have to determine where the ball should land before it begins rolling along that line.

I like to think about a chip in three parts: Carry. Landing. Roll.

Where will the ball travel through the air?
Where will it land?
What will it do from that point to the hole?

Once you begin seeing chip shots this way, club selection starts making more sense. Instead of automatically reaching for the same wedge every time you miss a green, you can choose the club that gives you the carry and roll relationship the shot requires.

Sometimes that may be a sand wedge.
Sometimes it may be a pitching wedge.
Sometimes it may be a 9-iron, 8-iron, hybrid, or even your putter.

The goal is not to prove that you can hit a difficult shot. The goal is to choose the simplest shot that gives you the best opportunity to get the ball close to the hole.

There Is More Than One Way to Chip a Golf Ball

Another reason I wanted to create this series is that golfers are often taught chipping as though there is only one correct technique. I do not believe every chip requires exactly the same setup, club, ball position, trajectory, or motion. Golf does not give us identical shots.

The ball might be sitting perfectly on closely mown grass for one shot and buried in rough on the next. You may have 30 feet of green between you and the hole, or you may have three feet. The green may be above you, below you, running away from you, or sloping toward you. The shot changes. Our decisions need to change with it.

Throughout this series, we are going to establish a reliable foundation first. We will look at setup, contact, low-point control, how the club interacts with the turf, and how to create a repeatable chipping motion. From there, we can begin adding options.

The objective is not to create a complicated short game. It is exactly the opposite. We want to understand enough about chipping that we can make the game simpler.

What We Will Cover

Throughout the Chipping Series, we will work through the skill progressively. We will begin by defining the chip shot and understanding when it is the appropriate choice. From there, we will look at club selection and how loft influences carry and roll.

We will build a reliable setup and develop a repeatable motion. We will look at contact and low-point control, including why golfers hit chunks and blades and what we can do to reduce those misses. We will also spend time understanding wedge bounce and how the sole of the club interacts with the ground. Then we will move beyond technique.

We will learn how to select landing spots, control carry and rollout, read different lies, read the green, adjust to different situations, and develop additional shots when they are necessary. Finally, we will take those skills into practice and onto the golf course. Just as we did with putting, the goal is to Practice With a Purpose and Play With a Purpose.

From Making Putts to Getting Up and Down

The Putting Series was ultimately about more than the putting stroke. It was about developing a process that helps us make better decisions, practice more effectively, build confidence, and make more putts. I want to approach chipping the same way.

We are not going to chase a perfect-looking technique. We are going to build a functional short game. We are going to understand the shot, choose the club, build the setup, train the motion, control the carry and roll, read the lie, read the green, and practice with a purpose. Then we are going to take it to the golf course. Because ultimately, the goal is not simply to become a better chipper.

The goal is to save strokes.

A missed green does not have to be a problem. With the right plan, a reliable technique, and a little purposeful practice, it can become an opportunity.

Welcome to The Chipping Series.

Let's get up and down.

Stuart Lambert, PGA, Lambert Golf Academy