For starters, here's a clip from about.com and Michael Lamanna on the fundamentals and proper setup for chipping. Worth a couple of minutes of your time to view and then a couple of hours of your time to practice - wouldn't hurt to stretch that out throughout the week rather than try to do it all in a single practice session.
Update 1 March 12: While looking for tips on chipping, found one that suggested chipping off of a board to ensure that one's knees and lower body were still. Tried it out at the golf course yesterday afternoon - works well. Worthwhile drill though I must admit that when I went out and played competitive golf later on, my chipping was very inconsistent. Grrrr. (Blame it on end of day exhaustion and March golf...)
Update 2 March 15: Here's a whole raft of clips from The Golf Channel. I'll be going through them one by one to see what helps me.
Update 3 March 18: A few things I've been working on: less wrist and a quiet lower body when chipping. In talking with Curt Johnson yesterday, he had just read something which sounded like the 6-8-10 rule. I'm aware of it, may have even tried it somewhere in my golfing past, but it's not something I have used at all. In fact, I never use the 6 iron as a chipper and rarely the 8. Maybe I should experiment with them. Remember a few seasons back when James Hager, a young golfer who has had a lot of success here at Lakeview, went ape over the use of the 8 iron for chipping. More reason to try it out along with the 6 iron. Already use the 10, the pitching wedge, plenty.
Update 4 March 18: Curt Johnson sent this information which he gleamed from the PGA Tour Partners magazine for March/April:
Source is the PGA Tour Partners magazine, March/April 2008, Volume 12 Number 2,page 66. What stayed in my memory was the chart (carry-to-roll ratio) they had:PW: 1:1 9-iron: 1:2 8-iron: 1:3 7-iron: 1:4
The ratio is the carry in the air to the distance of the roll that the ball takes in its journey to the bottom of the cup.
Update 5 April 4: As I was out practicing chipping, I wondered what a good up and in ratio would be. Today, while reading Golfweek, the wondering stopped with a two page spread on Tiger Woods 2001 and Tiger Woods 2008. One of the stats displayed was a Scrambling percentage and how Tiger fared with his peers. In 2001, that percentage was 70.83 with a rank of 3rd; in 2008, 74.55 and a rank of 2nd. Here's the definition (from here):
Scrambling: Percentage of holes on which golfer scores par or better despite failing to hit green in regulation.Guess that could cover more than just chipping around the green, couldn't it?
So here's what I'm thinking. During the league season, why not a challenge that would have players hit a number of balls from off the green, say five balls from a specified spot ranging from just off the collar to fifteen yards off the green. Object would be to get up and down in two shots so a par score for the five balls would be ten. The challenge of course would be to improve as the season went along - and just getting out there and practicing should result in some improvement, right? So, are you game? If nothing else, it's something any individual could do as part of their practice routine. Remember, Tiger is one of the best with a ratio in the 70's. How about if we start with a target of 50%. Well, maybe 40%. 30%?
Update:
