I recently suffered a very narrow last-green match play loss to a man one shot lower than me. Nothing surprising in that. These things happen. I didn’t have my best and he was just a fraction better.
What was surprising, though, was one of the clubs he was using – a chipper – and to great effect, too. I did a slight doubletake when I first half-clocked it on one of his early greenside attempts, for I rarely see anyone using a chipper (even those who most definitely should), and don’t remember ever seeing one in the hands of a 5-handicapper.
You don’t often see a chipper in the hands of a low-handicapper
(Image credit: Future)
But this chap wasn’t worried about that. He had simply chosen to play the club that would help him get up and down most often on the majority of greenside shots.
The chipper is, of course, the most derided of golf clubs, with many golfers undoubtedly spurning its simplicity out of pride, at potentially great cost to their scores. They simply can’t be seen to be using (or needing) such a club.
Yes, learning how to chip with wedges and other clubs is very wise and, yes, there will be certain greenside shots where the chipper is about as much use as a chocolate teapot. Lobbing it over a steep-lipped bunker to a tight pin is clearly not the chipper’s forte… but allowing you to play simple chips using essentially your putting stroke most definitely is!
The real beauty of the chipper is that you can pretty much use your putting stroke with hardly any wrist break
(Image credit: Future)
But the club that many golfers see as merely an object of amusement that warrants their sympathy if they see anyone using one has been further legitimised of late by one or two of golf’s biggest brands adding them to their club ranges – clubs such as the Ping ChipR and Odyssey Chipper feature high on any list of the best chippers in golf.
Ping is one of the big brand’s to have gone down the chipper route with its ChipR club
(Image credit: Future)
Far less that can go wrong
Back in my day, it was pretty much just the Bronty Chipmaster and a selection of offerings from cheap non-brands, in keeping with the club’s dubious reputation.
But wide rounded soles and a decent amount of loft mean that you can effectively use pretty much your putting stroke…
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