Pitch or chip?

Most of the golf players have difficulties to choose which one – pitch or chip - is the best shot in many situations on the course. It is also frequent to find golfers that don’t distinguish a chip from a pitch. Some even think that a pitch shot is only executed with a pitch iron and a chip with a chipper. The purpose of this text is to elucidate golfers that have such difficulties.

The first aspect to clear is that the names of the shots are not related to the specific irons or wedges used to play although there are clubs with those names. You might remember that there is even a chip club that was very popular some years ago with two equal faces to be used from left or right side, very useful when the usual side swing cannot be performed by the player due to a fixed obstacle, tree, wall or other impediment. You can chip or pitch or even make other kind of shots with most of the wedges and irons. What makes the real difference between a chip and a pitch shot is the type of swing you perform.

So, what is a pitch shot? We could say that it is a regular shot in the normal stance with full or shorter swing causing the normal parabolic trajectory of the ball. The ball travels up according the loft of the club and the speed of the swing and falls down with a shorter movement forward or even back in consequence of the spin acquired by the ball in contact with the club face. This kind of shot is recommended when there obstacles in the trajectory of the ball and in the limit when a tall tree is between the player and the hole a balloon pitch shot can be the right choice. You can pitch with whatever club you want - usually the shorter irons and wedges - but if you open the face of longer irons you will be surprised with the beautiful and higher & longer shots you can obtain. However, the usual situation for a pitch is during the short game when a pitch shot most of the times is recommendable around the green with obstacles between. The ball flies after the impact and falls down with a shorter movement on the green. It is recommended especially when we want to place the ball nearest the hole.

Is that clear? And what’s a chip shot?

A chip shot is a totally different shot: in the swing and in the usual stance. First of all the stance must be opened and the ball placed at the back foot. The swing is more similar to the putting following a line in the desired direction (tacking in account a putting line after the ball touches the green) without wrist cocking and gripping near the lower limit of the grip. The club, as it is played with the ball at the back foot, is closed in relation to the usual position. The shaft of the club should be closer to the left arm (for right players) and move without rotation, that is paralell to itself. The ball will fly over the rough and the border of the green and then fall in the green make one or two little jumps and adopt a trajectory to the hole. Usually you should adopt a falling point outside the rolling trajectory, because the more loft the wedge has the tendancy to right spin increases.

After these preliminary considerations which club should be chosen? Depending on the distance to the border of the green and the distance from this border till the hole the club should be choose between a pitch club and any wedge. Usually, in normal horizontal greens and played as it was said before, the ball fly one third of the distance and rolls on the green two thirds of the total distance. A 9 or an 8 or even a 7 club can also be used in special circumstances, when a longer rolling distance is required after the flight of the ball. If you are a skilled golfer you can also use a wood or a hybrid According with the local conditions of the green the position of the ball can be changed: if the ball should roll less distance we approach the ball to the centre of the stance and use a higher loft club. Compared with the pitch shot the chip is a much easier shot. Around the green and inside a circumference of 50 m from the hole the chip shot is safer, unless the ball is near the border and immediately after deep rough. So, read the green carefully and the conditions of its border before choose the best shot.
And if you have tendency to shank choose always a chip instead of a pitch if possible.

Practice both shots in the driving range and fit your own best club for each situation!
Enjoy your game!