The Best Shot: How Can You Decide Whether To Chip, Pitch, Or Putt

Why is it that some of the simplest golf shots are the troublemakers for golf beginners, even to the experts? I’m not talking about putting only, certainly the easiest shot to learn in golf.. I’m talking about the strange chip shot and the occasionally difficult pitch shot – both very easy, yet very taxing.

The difficulty of these shots more or less lie on the fact that there is no confidence when the shot is done on a certain situation. You ask yourself as beginner golfer: maybe a pitch would be better, or perhaps putting the ball on the next shot is better than chipping it.

These are some of the questions that makes a beginner golf player overthink, leading to nothing else but a bad shot. Thus, guesswork needs to be stopped and eventually brain freezing will be stopped too.

Questions You Need To Ask Yourself

Whenever the ball is on the green you have to put the chip shot aside and go for the putt all the time. And even off the green the putt is a much better option if possible. It’s very simple to make a decision on this action and is dependent on the following guidelines which need to be considered:

1) Can a usual putting stroke get the ball from where it is to the hole?

Take a full swing, backswing and forward swing, does the club get stuck in the grass??

3) Is the path in between your ball and the hole a plain travel path, not hindered by any obstructions (grass tufts or anything that might slow down or stop the ball)?

The Effects::

If you have said yes to these 3 questions; then putting is the best option for you and not the chip shot. On the other hand, if your answer is no to all these questions, you better choose chip (or pitch).

Anytime the putt is too long then the chip shot is best (with of course the term “long” being dependent, but anything longer than 18-20 yards is a fine standard length for most golfers to stay away from putting until a faster shot is obtainable).

If you are playing from the collar of the green and there is high grass or uneven that could hurl your putt off balance, then the chip is perfect.

Finally, if there are some uneven areas on the course in between the ball and the hole, a pitch shot is then suggested.