Tips For Chipping And Pitching

Online, March 23, 2011 (Newswire.com) - In the articles below, former South African Tour player Mel Sole provides some great tips for improving your chipping and pitching.

Most amateur golfers are happy to hit drive after drive at the driving range, but they tend to neglect chipping and pitching. They believe that these golf shots are all about feel, and they haven't got enough time to 'get the feel'.

This is a really big mistake, because just a little practice of the methods below will significantly improve your score. Along with putting, these type of shots account for a large percentage of your round, so you will never post a great score until you master them.

The 6-8-10 Chipping Formula:

The golden rule in chipping is: Fly the ball as little as possible and roll the ball as much as possible.

With that in mind, it is important to understand the air-time/ground-time ratios of shots hit with different clubs. The selection of the correct club is vital. You can chip with anything from a 3-iron to a sand wedge depending on the situation, but you must know the following formulas to decide which club is required.

When you chip with a 10-iron (the pitching wedge), the ball will fly half the distance to the hole and roll half the distance. When you chip with an 8-iron the ball will fly 1/3 of the distance and roll 2/3. When you chip with a 6-iron the ball will fly 1/4 of the distance and roll 3/4.

These formulas are based on a normal paced, level green (a situation we don't often find on the course), so if you are going uphill you would need to go up one club, and downhill requires going down one club.

If the green is fast you again will need to go down one club and if the green is slow you will go up one club. I know this may sound confusing at first, but once you understand the basic formula, it really is just common sense.

Always try to land the ball about 3 feet onto the putting surface and let the ball roll the rest of the way.

Visit the link below to learn the correct address and wrist control:

http://electricgolftrolleysonline.co.uk/blog/golf-swing/tips-for-chipping-and-pitching

The 7-8-9-10 (Clock) Pitching Method:

Most of the amateurs I play with hit the ball well from tee to green, but when they get within 50 yards of the green they seem to struggle.

"I don't have time to practice these shots," they tell me. "The pros have all the time in the world to stand and work on these shots, so they develop feel."

The 7-8-9-10 Method requires a little practice initially, but once you have established your distances you will be able to rely on it in the future.

Imagine as you address the ball that you have a large clock in front of you. Learn to swing your left arm (right arm for left handers) to the various "hours" of the clock, starting with 7 o'clock.

It is also important that you have a slight wrist cock to ensure a slightly downward blow through the shot. Practice hitting shots like this until you can consistently hit shots a certain distance. This will become your 7 o'clock shot.

Practice hitting shots swinging your left arm to 8 o'clock and note your distances. This will become your 8 o'clock shot.

Practice the same as the first two shots, while swinging your arm to 9 o'clock.

Finish off swinging the arm to 10 o'clock and you will now have four specific distances that you can consistently pitch the ball.

Distances will vary from player to player as in full shots, but once you have them established you have a tried and true method to rely on. When you find yourself 40 yards from the flag on the course you can say to yourself, "OK, this is my X o'clock shot," and you know for sure that if you swing your arm to that position, the ball is going to go about 40 yards.

Visit the link below to learn the correct address, pace, follow-through and finish:

http://electricgolftrolleysonline.co.uk/blog/golf-swing/tips-for-chipping-and-pitching