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Why chip-ins are like London buses...

Sandy

Well-Known Member
Aug 29, 2006
907
0
You wait 23 months for one, and then two come along straight after each other! :laugh:

So, I've been playing for just under 2 years now, and though I'm very happy with the way my game has improved I realized a couple of months ago that I've NEVER had a chip-in from off the green. I've had several putts from off the green, but never chipped one straight in the hole.

So today, after a couple of weeks off the course, I went out for a round at my local course. Somehow my came really came together on a couple of holes and from nowhere I chipped one in for a birdie on the 2nd! Already ecstatic from this, I repeated it with another birdie on the 14th!

Birdie #1: A 176yd par 3 with 4 bunkers guarding the green and the flag towards the front left of the green. Left my 22* hybrid about 5 yards off the front of the green on the fairway with the ground too wet to putt it. Took my new Callaway X-Tour 60/11MD, put a great stroke on it and it hopped in on the third bounce!

Birdie #2: Very tight tree-lined hole to a well guarded green. 19* hybrid off the tee, 8i that I hit fat and landed up a good 30yds off the green. Took my trusty spin-milled Vokey 56/10 and stepped up. Again made a great little pitching stroke, landed it right on the front of the green and watched it break along the surface and drop right in the hole after about 10yds of roll!

It felt so good to finally hit these shots, and all the credit has to go to an unknown teenage Korean girl down at the range on Saturday - she was in the booth next to me and was one of the best players I've ever seen. She spent a good 30 minutes just chipping balls with her wedges and at the end she'd hit a good 50 or 60 balls all within a circle with a 3ft radius. She had an amazing stroke for this, and I spent the rest of the session I had trying to emulate what I'd seen - obviously it worked as my chipping and pitching got me a good score today.

I could have easily got my best score ever today too if I'd not been experimenting carrying a 16* hybrid today and forced myself to try it a few times to see how it worked - great off the tee, but probably cost me 5 or 6 strokes. That Callaway wedge is a permanent addition to the bag after today though... ;)
 

ezra76

Well-Known Member
Feb 5, 2006
12,412
16
Sweet. They are so awesome when they are for birdie. I've gotten a few this year but most of the time they are for pars.
icon10.gif
 

zaphod

Well-Known Member
Jan 30, 2007
2,160
0
NICE

Those Vokey's are magic

Good chipping is what turned my game around this season. Such a simple short shot yet overlooked. Just needed to sit down and refine a technique and feel.
 
5

5iron

Guest
Great job Sandy, 2 birdies with Chip Ins is a very good deal!, :laugh:
 

figjam

New Member
Aug 29, 2007
357
0
Chip ins are such a bonus for your scores. I've had a few over the years and they are usually shots that you would normally struggle to get up and down froma nyway, so it can be a two shot turnaround for the hole. Getting two in one round must have doen wonders for your card.

Most of my really good rounds have included at least one no putt green.
 

warbirdlover

Ender of all threads
Supporting Member
Jul 9, 2005
19,151
5,601
central Wisconsin
Country
United States United States
I haven't had a chip in birdie (or eagle) in 3 years! I've had birdies this year but used to do it all the time chipping and am finally getting to chip near the cup again after a summer of miserable scores. Good job Sandy! :)
 
OP
Sandy

Sandy

Well-Known Member
Aug 29, 2006
907
0
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #8
Getting two in one round must have doen wonders for your card.

It did - I usually struggle on par 3s for some reason, but today I had 3 pars and the birdie on those, and the 2nd chip-in totally covered up the awful 8i I'd chunked to ruin a very nice tee shot. I ended the round with just 30 putts, which for a 22 handicapper like myself is pretty nice.

The Vokeys worked as well as ever, but that Callaway is an absolute revelation, with that special sole-grind meaning I find it easier to pick the ball off the fairway with that and its 11* of bounce than my 52* Vokey with just 6*! Both were achieved with a Top Flite D2 Feel, which is proving itself a bargain - the greens were nice and soft today, but it was nice to be hitting 160yd approaches with my 25* hybrid and finding pitch marks and the ball just rolling out a foot or so from them.
 

azgreg

"Don't count that."
Supporting Member
Sep 20, 2007
15,483
16,859
Phoenix, AZ
Country
United States United States
Great job sandy. Chip-ins are like finding a 10 or 20 dollar bill in your laundry.
 

Eracer

No more triple bogies!!
Oct 31, 2005
12,405
8
Very cool. Lightning strikes twice. Now bottle some of that stuff and send it to me.
 

Dave Ireland

I'm sizzlin tonite
Aug 31, 2004
1,388
0
I left my chip-in machine ... a 25 year old wedge worth only a few cents on the course 3 weeks ago (how come bastards never leave them back to clubhouse when they find'em?), and my chipping suffered terribly as I alternated between lob/sand and pitching wedge. I could get nothing rolling to within 6 feet of the hole. So last Sunday I reach into the bag for the 56* s/w and pull out the 52* gap by mistake .. bump bump trickle and in da hole ..

so the gap wedge now becomes the go to for chipping around the green and the geezer that has snagged my old wedge will probably find it's way onto the antiques roadshow, I'll be watchin ya robbin bastard !!!
 

sandwedge

Well-Known Member
Oct 19, 2006
790
0
Nice Job Sandy! I had one this weekend with my 50* wedge. Too bad it was for double bogey though.:real angry:
 

Greydawg

King Of All Hackers!!!
Dec 15, 2006
243
0
That's my partner!!!

Fantastic job, Sandy!
As hard as you work on your game, practice, and research things,
you damn well deserve it!:thumbs up:

Looks like I'm in really big trouble tomorrow, huh?:laugh:
 
5

5iron

Guest
It did - I usually struggle on par 3s for some reason, but today I had 3 pars and the birdie on those, and the 2nd chip-in totally covered up the awful 8i I'd chunked to ruin a very nice tee shot. I ended the round with just 30 putts, which for a 22 handicapper like myself is pretty nice.

The Vokeys worked as well as ever, but that Callaway is an absolute revelation, with that special sole-grind meaning I find it easier to pick the ball off the fairway with that and its 11* of bounce than my 52* Vokey with just 6*! Both were achieved with a Top Flite D2 Feel, which is proving itself a bargain - the greens were nice and soft today, but it was nice to be hitting 160yd approaches with my 25* hybrid and finding pitch marks and the ball just rolling out a foot or so from them.


Lol, great job again Sandy ! :)
 

tn-golfnut-from-nj

Birdie Machine.
Jul 13, 2007
556
1
Way to Go Sandy!
I had a chip in once, over a little mound.
I though I hit it really bad, because it landed on the top of the mound.
Then it started rolling down, towards the hole, and it went in.

Even though I knew it was the luckiest shot ever, I couldn't stop thinking about it for a long time.:laugh:

Getting 2 in a row must be a great feeling.
 

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