Chipping vs Pitching in Golf: Key Differences & When to Use Each Shot

⛳ Chipping produces a lower trajectory shot that rolls more, making it ideal when you have plenty of green and no obstacles.

🪨 Pitching uses a lofted club to get the ball in the air quickly and stop it fast, perfect for clearing hazards like sand traps.

🔧 Using a club with higher bounce helps prevent digging into the turf, especially on tight lies with short grass.

🏌️‍♂️ Treating a chip shot like a putting stroke with minimal movement increases consistency for beginners.

👐 Narrowing your stance for short shots limits rotation and helps control where you hit the ground.

🎯 Opening the club face on pitch shots adds loft and bounce, making it easier to get the ball airborne and control distance.

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00:00:00 - Hey guys, I'm here with Micah today because I've been struggling with my short game. Um, and he's going to walk me through the difference between chipping and pitching, when to use it, and some tips to practice. >> So, chipping and pitching, there's a lot of different scenarios that can dictate when you would do each. Um, I would say the biggest one is going to be what lie you have on the course and what your shot looks like. So, starting off with your chips, those are going to be a much

00:00:23 - lower trajectory shot that are going to roll out a lot more. very nice to use if you have a lot of green to work with, no obstacles in between you. Now, the pitch shot is something that has a lot more loft, is going to stop a lot quicker once it hits the putting putting surface. And that's a good option if you have, say, like a sand trap in between you and your target. >> So, for the first shot, we're about 25 yards from the pin and we're on a tighter lie, which I just learned means

00:00:46 - that the grass is shorter. Um, and for me, when I'm taking this shot, I know that I have a big problem controlling my low point. I typically will hit behind the ball. Um, and so Micah, that's what you're working with today. How should I approach this shot? >> So, those are all uh very common things that I hear a lot of, uh, Lexi. So, one, when you're on a tight lie, having a 60° in your hand of what you've been trying to use, it does not have a lot of bounce on it. So, if you don't hit it really

00:01:13 - good, that's going to have a tendency to dig. >> So, what does bounce mean? >> So, bounce is the leading edge or the angle of the leading edge relative to the turf. >> Okay? So, a higher bounce club is going to allow you to essentially hit behind that ball a little bit and not dig that club into the turn. >> Okay. >> So, one option we have, especially like the lie you have here where it's a nice lie, you don't have anything in your way and we have option as far as green to

00:01:36 - roll. I'm actually going to hand you your nine iron. >> I'm going to take the lob wedge from you. I want you to set up on this like you would a normal chip shot or how you would normally go about this. Now, a couple things we're going to change is because we're not worried about loft, I want you to go ahead and get that handle leaned more towards the target. Okay, >> good. Now, we're going to narrow that stance up a little bit cuz we're not trying to hit it hard. So, we don't need a huge swing.

00:01:59 >> Now, outside of that, ball position looks good. It's in the center of the stance. We want to be careful not to put it too far forward or too far back. >> Okay. >> Now, from here, obviously, because we have a nine iron and it's only 25 yards, you're going to take a really little swing. You can almost treat it kind of like a putt. >> Okay. I want you to pick a target out maybe four or five yards just barely onto the green. You're going to plan on this thing rolling most of the way to the

00:02:21 >> Oh wow. Okay. >> So, whenever you're ready, you can go ahead and take a couple strokes there. >> Okay. I'm going to take a practice swing first. >> So, when you say take this one like a putt, um would I focus on keeping my arms a little straighter and um almost like a extended putting stroke? >> Yeah, absolutely. So, don't worry about like hinging your wrists or trying to get the club head too far off the ground. again. You have a nine iron in hand and you told me this is 25 yard shot. Yeah,

00:02:46 >> we just need a little tiny swing. >> Okay, cool. >> Does that look good? >> Looks great.

00:02:59 >> Well, >> now that first one, Lexi, is a really good example of you hit behind that ball right? >> I did. >> So, we didn't hit it good, but I want you to look. We are still putting. >> Yeah. >> Right. Now you're not hitting another chip and you don't have that embarrassment of like, oh, I hit that a whole four inches in front of me. Now I have like a beaver pelt sitting on top of my ball. Right. >> Yeah. >> That's why this is a really good option in the scenario

00:03:19 >> for beginner players who maybe have a tough time with low point. Would you say that the chip where you're just doing a little bit more of a smaller putting stroke is a higher percentage shot than say a pitch? >> Absolutely. And when we talk anything in the golf swing, typically when we can limit the amount of movement you're making and the amount of variables that you have to pick from, the shot tends to get a much much easier. >> Okay, cool. Let me try it again. See if

00:03:41 - I can do a little better.

00:03:50 >> Beautiful, Lexi. >> Wow. We I'm a hole out. I'm super happy with that. >> I think we found a new chipping technique. >> I think we did, too. All right, we have teleported. We have the same distance shot, so we're still about 25 yards, but we do have a sand trap in between. Um, so Micah is going to walk me through how to approach this one. >> Yeah. So again, same yardage. So we are only going to change the type of shot we're hitting. Obviously with this hazard in front of us with this trap, we

00:04:16 - need to get the ball up in the air. And then if our pin is shortsided like it is up there, we don't have a lot of green to roll out. So when that ball lands, we need it to stop quickly. So, for that reason, a lot of this is going to be club selection, and then just how you're setting up for this shot. >> So, what I'm going to do is I'm going to switch you from that 9 iron. I'm going to give you your most lofted wedge. So, that's your 60 or your lob wedge. I'm going to switch you spots and we're

00:04:38 - going to set up a ball here and we're going to kind of talk through what adjustments you need to make in order to get this ball just more loft. >> Okay, sounds good. >> So, once you get set up on that ball for me, couple different things. We don't want the handle super far lean towards our target cuz that's going to deloft the club and take out all of the loft that we have on this lob w. >> So having this handle more upright like you do here, you'll see how your hands

00:05:01 - are more in line with the club head instead of being 2, three inches out front. So that's a good starting position. And then the other thing we're going to do is we're going to open this face up just a touch. When we open that face up, that's going to help you use more of that bounce on that wedge I had mentioned, which is going to make it easier for you to get through this rough and get the ball up in the air. >> Sounds good. And sometimes when I look at my wedge when it's super open, it

00:05:22 - makes me a little nervous cuz it feels like it's aimed more to the right. Does that necessarily matter in this scenario? >> Not in this scenario because you're taking a much steeper swing and we're taking a much smaller swing, too. So, we're not too worried about the path you're taking. >> Okay. Now, once you get set up and comfy, one last thing I want to do is just narrow up that stance just a little bit. And now, the key thing I want you to focus on, I'm going to move this ball

00:05:44 - for just a second. In the follow through, we're going to try and keep the butt end of the club as close to your lead hip as possible. >> Okay, >> good. Just like that. If we don't do that, you're going to create a lot of lead wrist flexion. That lead wrist flexion again is going to take bounce away from the club and it's going to take loft away from the club. two things that we definitely want for this shot. >> So maybe this type of thing. >> Yeah, just like that.

00:06:08 >> And I also have a question on the stance. So why is it that you narrow your stance when you're not hitting as far? >> So narrower stance doesn't allow you to rotate as much as a wider stance. So for that reasoning, rotation is a big power component of the swing. Okay. >> So when I have you take that narrower stance, it kind of limits the amount that you can turn. >> Makes it a little easier for you to focus on what you're doing with your hands and where you're hitting the ground at.

00:06:30 >> Okay, that makes sense. Cool. Oh, should I try to pop one out there? >> Yeah, let's try and pop a couple out there whenever you're ready. >> This is where I want you to try and hit the ground with that club.

00:06:43 >> Nice, Lexi. >> Wow, beautiful. >> That was great. And okay, I think like you were saying where you look right in front of the ball, that helped me a lot cuz I didn't even look at the ball in my setup. I was looking at that spot and I always hit behind the ball and that really helps me to make contact. And if you open up that face a little bit more than what you did on that last one, that'll help add a little loft and take some of that distance out of that shot. >> Okay, >> beautiful, Lexi.

00:07:09 >> Wow, >> nice touch. >> All right, guys. Thanks for watching. Next time you're out on the course, be sure to practice your chip and your pitch and let us know down below what shots you want us to break down next.

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