Have you ever wondered if you should be chipping with 1 club around the greens, or multiple clubs?
Should you spend time mastering multiple options… Or just one? Let’s discuss it.
Skill level
A massive factor in determining whether you should chip with one club or multiple is your skill level. A beginner golfer might need to first learn with one club for a certain length of time vs a highly skilled player needing to use multiple clubs for different situations throughout the round.
As a beginner, once you have learned how to make contact, control your trajectory & judge distance, you may then be able to learn what another club does and how to adapt to that club.
An elite golfer will need to understand how to use multiple clubs to tackle various situations. Some situations might need a high shot, some a low shot, some with more spin needed & some with less spin. A highly skilled golfer is expected to be able to hit multiple different shots with their highest lofted wedge, as well as understand what lower lofted clubs do when the situation calls for it.
Comfort & Familiarity
Chipping with one club can increase the golfer’s comfort & familiarity with that club in hand. They will start to learn how fast/slow the ball comes off the face, how high/low the ball launches, & how much spin is on the ball so they can plan for the appropriate landing zone & can decide whether they are allowing for spin to stop the ball, land angle, or roll.
If a golfer hasn’t practiced with multiple clubs, when playing a round of golf, the golfer may not be familiar with any of the ball/club dynamics mentioned above, which ultimately means they have no confidence or comfort in the shot they are playing. This could mean hitting a shot they are unhappy with.
Practice & Preparation
Piggybacking on comfort and familiarity, a golfer choosing to chip with 1 club, or multiple will ultimately depend on the amount of time they have to practice these skills.
If you have a limited amount of time to practice in general, you might be better off learning to chip with 1 high lofted club, & 1 lower lofted club for certain situations. Get good at those 1-2 clubs until you have enough time to devote to learning what each club in the bad can do.
If you are someone who has time to practice, I would absolutely spend some time hitting multiple different shots with multiple different clubs to work out what situation or lie that club could be useful for.
It’s not essential that you learn how to chip with every club, but it does help to have a basic understanding for when the situation presents itself.
Versatility
This is where we discuss whether it’s more beneficial to chip with one club & be able to hit it all trajectories, or do you change clubs when you need?
High level golfers can make a 56 deg wedge go high, medium & low just by changing a few things like ball position & setup, along with adding or subtracting shaft lean to hit their desired flight. Golfers who like chipping with 1 club will be good at this. They need to be.
Some golfers like changing the club they use when faced with a shot that’s needing to come out low and run.
Just understand that the club you choose will have some restrictions. If you choose a higher lofted club like a 60 or 56, you might find it more difficult to hit it low and allow it to run. There are ways to do it, but for some players, it could be easier to just grab a 9 iron where the loft is doing the work for us.
Course Conditions & Layout
While using 1 club to chip with might be great at your home course, the question you need to ask yourself is “does it travel”?
Does your short game do well at all types of course? Soft conditions with think rough vs firm conditions with no rough… Muirfield Village (Jacks Place) vs St Andrews (Links).
In this scenario, knowing what multiple different clubs do around the greens can be very beneficial. Whether you choose to use loft & stop the ball though land angle & spin or less loft where you choose to have the ball reach it’s target via roll, neither is right or wrong, but there will be situations where one is easier than the other.
Green Speed & Slopes
Like the above, different green speeds & certain slopes can force you to play a certain type of shot.
Slow green speeds could make lower shots easier to get the ball to the hole, vs higher lofted clubs stopping to fast. If you miss you landing spot and get the trajectory wrong with more loft, you can’t rely on the ball rolling out towards the hole vs the lower shot.
Faster greens might make a low shot more difficult due to the ball rolling out too much, thus you’ll need the ability to hit the ball higher with more spin to ensure you have the stopping power the ball needs to stay on those fast surfaces.
This will also be true for downhill & uphill slopes in the green. The pin might be sitting on top of an upslope, and you may want to run it up the slope. You could also grab more loft and hit a medium trajectory shot that lands into the slope to slow the ball down. Your options are endless.
Lie & Surface Type
The lie you have around the green dictates the shot you can & can’t play. When you have a perfect fairway lie, you can hit any shot you want, the moment you are in the rough, most of the time you’ll need some loft.
If you only chip with less lofted clubs, this is where you are really going to struggle. Higher lofted clubs are going to be the best solution when the ball is sitting down in the rough. We want a large swing, with slow ball speed. If you take a large swing with less loft, the ball will come out too fast.
Perhaps you play on a golf course that has tight lies around the green & when you’re faced with that shot, it makes you nervous. This would be a time to grab less loft & use roll rather than nipping a 60 & throwing it high.
Distance Control
One of the main factors when determining if you should only chip with 1 club vs multiple, is your ability to control the distance you are hitting the ball.
We spoke about the amount of practice time you have earlier, & the answer to that will dictate a lot. You want to have a club in your hand where you are confident you know how it feels when the ball leaves the face.
Essentially distance control comes down to speed & loft. You want to swing the club at the appropriate speed for the loft you are presenting at impact.
If you only chip/pitch with one club, you are going to become very attune to the way the ball flies, spins, lands & rolls. You will have a good idea of what swing length & club head speed you need to have the ball land where you want.
If you choose to chip/pitch with multiple clubs, you are going to need to spend the time required to learn how the ball flies off the clubface when using a 9 iron, 7 iron, 5 iron etc. Each club will launch slightly higher/lower, spin a little more/less, roll slightly more/less.
This will require time to practice becoming comfortable on the golf course to play these shots when required.
Mental Approach & Decision Making
Deciding what club to chip with when faced with certain situations can come down to the mentality you have around chipping. There are a lot of golfers who struggle around the greens and choose to chip/pitch with clubs that don’t require precise contact.
Ultimately, the club you choose to chip/pitch with will come down to your confidence and your ability to hit the shot in front of you.
Perhaps for you it’s easier to keep the ball on the ground with less loft, vs trying to hit a higher shot with more loft.
Weather Conditions
Wind, rain & other weather conditions can severely impact what clubs you should be using around the greens.
If the ground is soft & wet, you might be better off taking more left & having the ball land on the green vs running it up. The turf you hit off could be soft & muddy which means using more loft could cause poor ground contact which leads to the ball only moving 2ft in front of you.
If you’ve ever played in windy conditions, you’ll know that the ball can be severely affected even on short shots. The ball will react differently on the green depending on if you are chipping into the wind or chipping with the wind behind you.
Knowing what club to hit when it’s windy is essential to lowering your score.
Wrapping Up
So, based on everything you just read, what do you think you should do? Chip with 1 club, or multiple?
IMO, most of the time you will only really need 1-2 clubs to chip with. Typically, a 60 or 56 that you can manipulate & hit high, medium & low. Ideally, you’ll want to be able to add spin & take off spin but hitting some cuts & draws.
However, I do think it’s advantageous to learn what other clubs do around the greens. You never know when you’ll need to use a 5 iron, belly a wedge, use a hybrid etc. When that moment comes, you’ll want to be prepared and aware of how the ball reacts once you hit it.
I hope you enjoyed this article. If you’d like more information on how to master some or all these shots around the greens, you can access them inside my online academy, along with 250+ other lessons covering every aspect of the game.
