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Chipping can be done with many different clubs from your sand wedge right up to your fairway woods. The object is to get the ball on the ground as soon as possible and let it run up to the hole.

The basic chipping motion is very similar to your putting stroke. Not much wrist hinging if any and a very simple stroke. Your clubface gives you all of your direction so how you stand is a little irrelevant however standing with your front foot pulled back a bit (open stance) does give you a better plane and more of an opportunity to get under the ball.

Pitching on the other hand should be done with your most lofted clubs. A lot of the pros will use their 60 degree sand wedge to get the ball up in the air and come down with little or know roll. Swinging the arms back and through similar to a pendulum tempo will help judge distances. The longer the swing the farther the ball will go.

As in chipping your stance should be slightly open as stated before this allows a better plane to get the ball airborn. To get the ball even higher you could also open your club face however all these specialties shots should be practiced and used only when it is absolutely necessary.

Learning to chip and pitch does make the game more enjoyable. This will lead to more up and downs. (Chipping or pitching on to the green and sinking the putt.)

First, let’s take rain. In your bag you should have a rain suit and at the very least a jacket to put. Now the most expensive rain suit will be in the $500.00 range, these are 100% waterproof and a great investment if you play a lot of golf. Next, an umbrella would be handy although I hate trying to hold on to one of those. A dry towel would be an asset to have as well as a hat. The most important piece of equipment that I carry is a rain glove. These gloves are actually grip better the wetter they are. With one of these I do not even cover my clubs.

Other elements that we prepare for would be hot or cold weather. Having a jacket or sweater in the bag is great because you never know when the temperature will drop. In warm weather having a bottle of water and sun screen is never a bad idea.

Preparation for the elements will make your game more enjoyable. This is as important a part of the game as anything so go through your equipment to make sure you have everything that you might need under different circumstances even if you only play in good weather. You never know when you might get caught.

The first assessment of the shot is how deep the ball is sitting in the grass. This will determine basically how far you can advance the ball. If you have a long way to go and there is lots of grass around the ball then you might considering taking your wedge out and chopping the ball back to the fairway. However if the ball is sitting up reasonably then you should go for the green. There are a couple of tips to keep in mind. First a wood is easy to hit out of the rough than an iron as the wood will glide through the grass and the iron will get caught in the long grass. Second the ball will come out with little backspin so it will not stop very quickly. You should allow for this and take less club.

For shots around the green in long rough, this poses other problems. Treating it like a sand shot and blasting out of the rough is one solution. Using a lofted club and chopping it out is another. Remember that the ball will come out with little spin and run quite a bit so you need to allow for this.

Making good decisions on how the ball will react is as important as having a good swing when it comes to playing the game. Good golfing!