Short Game
How to Chip a Golf Ball: A Beginner’s Step-by-Step
One setup, one club, one swing — the chip that transfers to the course
May 9, 2026 · 9 min read · Stephen Pickering
One setup, one club, one swing — the chip that transfers to the course
May 9, 2026 · 9 min read · Stephen Pickering
Key takeaway: Chipping is a pendulum from the shoulders, not a flick from the wrists. Hands ahead, weight forward, ball back, 9-iron. Land on a spot one-third of the way to the hole and let it roll. One setup, one club, one swing handles 80% of chips.
Around 60% of golf shots happen inside 100 yards, and a big chunk of those are chips from off the green. If you can chip a golf ball reliably to within a few feet of the hole, your scoring potential changes overnight — fewer doubles, more pars, a 5-stroke saving on a typical round for most amateurs.
The good news: chipping isn’t a complicated motion. One setup, one club, one swing thought handles 80% of the chips you’ll face. The bad news: most golfers learn ten different chipping techniques from ten different YouTube videos and execute none of them well. This guide cuts through the noise. Here’s how to chip a golf ball using the simple, repeatable method that pros teach to amateurs every day — and the scored drills that turn it into a course-ready skill.
Watch any amateur duff a chip and you’ll see the same two errors:
1. Weight on the back foot. The bottom of the swing arc shifts behind the ball, so the club hits the ground before it hits the ball. 2. Hands behind the ball at impact. The club face adds loft on its own; flipping the wrists adds more, and now you’re trying to scoop the ball into the air. Result: thin contact, fat contact, and zero distance control.
Both faults come from one mental error — trying to lift the ball into the air. The club has loft built in. Your job is to strike down through the ball; the loft launches it for you.
The chipping motion is a pendulum from the shoulders, not a swing from the wrists. Your hands stay quiet. The arms and shoulders swing as one piece. The ball gets in the way of a downward-moving club face and pops up on its own.
If you can stroke a 30-foot putt with a putter, you can chip a golf ball with a 9-iron. The motion is almost identical — the only difference is loft on the club face.
Feet about 6–8 inches apart. A narrow stance keeps the swing compact and stops you from making a full body turn. The chip is a small, controlled motion — a wide stance encourages a bigger, looser swing that’s harder to repeat.
Place the ball just back of centre in your stance — somewhere between the middle of your feet and your back heel. This pre-sets a downward angle of attack on the ball, which is exactly what you want. Ball forward = thin contact. Ball back = clean strike.
Put 60% of your weight on your front foot at address, and keep it there throughout the stroke. Don’t sway. Don’t shift onto the back foot during the backswing. Weight forward means your club bottoms out in front of the ball — exactly where you want it to.
At address, your hands should be slightly ahead of the ball — the grip end of the club closer to the target than the ball itself. This pre-sets the lean shaft you want at impact. From this position, all you have to do is keep the relationship between your hands and the club face stable through the strike.
Choke down on the grip by a couple of inches. A shorter lever gives you better control on a short shot, and it brings you closer to the ball — which lets you make a more compact swing. Almost every tour pro grips down on chip shots; almost no amateurs do.
Your arms and shoulders swing as one triangle. The wrists stay firm. The pendulum motion is identical to a long putting stroke — just longer in length and with a more lofted club. Picture a clock: the club head swings from 7 o’clock back to 7 o’clock through, mirror-image either side of the ball.
The further you want the ball to go, the longer your backswing. The force of the strike doesn’t change. This is the most counter-intuitive bit of the technique for new chippers — they want to “hit it harder” for distance. Don’t. Hit it the same; just swing further back.
A 5-yard chip might use a backswing that takes the club to your right thigh. A 15-yard chip needs the club to chest height on the backswing. Same tempo, same force, different lengths.
The killer mistake amateurs make: deceleration. They take a long backswing, get nervous, and slow the club down through the ball. Result: chunks, thin shots, blocks.
The forward swing should always be at least as long as the backswing — preferably slightly longer. The clubhead accelerates through the ball, not into it. If your forward swing is shorter than your backswing, you’re decelerating and the strike will fail.
For most chips from just off the green with a clean lie, a 9-iron or pitching wedge is the right club. They produce a low, running shot — about 25% air, 75% ground roll — that lands on the green and rolls toward the flag like a putt.
This is the bread-and-butter chip. Master it before you learn anything else.
Use a gap or sand wedge only when:
- There’s a hazard between you and the green (bunker, water, rough) - The pin is tight to your side of the green - You need the ball to stop quickly on a downhill green
Higher loft = more spin, more variance, less reliability. If you can play a 9-iron chip, play one. Save the wedge for when there’s no choice.
On a tight lie just off the green with no rough between you and the hole — putt it. A bad putt from off the green almost always finishes closer than a bad chip. The Texas wedge isn’t a hack — it’s the smartest play 30% of the time.
Scored chipping challenges with proximity benchmarks built around the standard chip.
Chipping Drills →Tour pros never chip to the pin. They chip to a specific landing spot on the green, usually one-third of the way to the hole. The ball lands there, rolls out, and finishes near the flag.
Why? Landing-spot errors are smaller than full-flight errors. A chip that lands 2 feet past your spot still finishes near the hole. A chip that flies 2 feet past the flag finishes 10 feet past the hole. Land short, roll out — that’s the entire game.
With a 9-iron chip, the ball will fly about a third of the distance to the hole and roll the remaining two-thirds. So if your chip needs to travel 15 yards, your landing spot is 5 yards onto the green.
Memorise the ratio for each club:
- 9-iron: 1/3 air, 2/3 roll - PW: 1/2 air, 1/2 roll - GW/SW: 2/3 air, 1/3 roll
Pick the club that gives you the most predictable bounce-and-roll for the situation. Then aim at the landing spot, not the flag.
Three drills cover the full skill set:
The Ten Yarder: Chip 10 balls from 10 yards to a hole. Count how many finish inside 3 feet. Use a 9-iron. Aim for 7 out of 10. This is the most common chipping distance on the course.
21 Points: 5 points for hole-outs, 3 for inside 1 foot, 1 for inside 3 feet. Reach exactly 21 — go over and you bust. Forces proximity thinking, not just “get it on the green.”
Par 2: 9 chip shots from different positions. For each, try to hole out in 2 strokes (chip + 1 putt). No gimmies — putt from at least a putter length. Closest drill to real on-course scrambling.
Without a number, you can’t tell whether your chipping is improving. With a number, you have proof — and a benchmark to chase. The first 4 weeks of scored chipping practice are usually where the biggest improvement shows up. After that, scores plateau and you have to add pressure (timer, streaks, fail conditions) to keep progressing.
Scoring Zone runs The Ten Yarder, 21 Points, and Par 2 with built-in scoring, benchmarks, and progress tracking. The Performance Hub assessment then pulls your chipping data into a Short Game Handicap — the cleanest single number for tracking whether your chipping is genuinely improving on the course.
Take the full short game assessment and get your Short Game Handicap.
Performance Hub →Round-by-round stats showing how your scrambling and up-and-down percentage trend over time.
Round Stats →Start with a 9-iron or pitching wedge for almost every chip from off the green. They produce a low, running shot that lands on the green and rolls like a putt — much more reliable than the high, spinny shot a sand or lob wedge produces. Save the wedges for when you need to fly a hazard.
Two faults cause 90% of chunked chips: weight on your back foot and hands behind the ball at impact. Fix both with the same setup change — 60% of your weight on the front foot, hands ahead of the ball, ball back of centre. Strike down on the ball and the club will deliver loft naturally.
No — keep your wrists firm. The chipping action is a pendulum from the shoulders, not a flick from the wrists. Wrist break introduces inconsistency in low-point control, which is what causes most chunks and skulls. Think of a chip as a long putt with loft.
A chipping net plus a hitting mat in the garden gives you a complete home setup for under £80. Pair it with three scored drills — The Ten Yarder, 21 Points, and Par 2 — and you have structured practice that transfers to the course. Score every session and chase the number across weeks.
Stephen Pickering
3-handicap golfer with 25 years on the course. Built Scoring Zone to bring structure and pressure to short game practice. Writes about what actually works from the practice green, not the press box.
Join golfers using The Ten Yarder, 21 Points, and Par 2 to turn chipping practice into measurable up-and-down strokes saved. Free in early access — no payment required.
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