Instruction

14 short game shots to chip like a Tour pro

Published

11 years ago

Jun 8, 2015

Around the green, tour professionals have ALL the shots in their bag. This gives them options to choose from in a given situation when determining shot-selection and trajectory; picking the right combination then becomes the greatest challenge.

As a handicap-player looking to improve, you must have the ability to hit several different shots of varying height in any one situation so you don’t get “stuck” with only one option. If you have a limited-number of shots around the green, you limit your ability to get up-and-down from various locations. A dependable short game is about having OPTIONS.

In the scoring guide below, I will teach you how to play 14 different shots of varying trajectories with various clubs to help expand your arsenal of short game shots.

The Texas Wedge
The Putter Back in Stance
The Fairway Wood or Rescue Club
The Bellied Wedge
The “Y” Chipping Style
The Bump and Run
The Three Basic Pitch Shots
The Toe Down Pitch Shot
The Toe In Skipper
The Super High Flop Shot
The High Bunker Shot
The Stab in the Bunker
The Long Running Bunker Shot
The Severe Downhill Pitch Shot

The Texas Wedge

The Texas Wedge was made popular in the South during the summers when the ground would get hard and baked out, making chipping and pitching risky. This shot will help you nestle the ball close to the flag when you feel uneasy, and it eliminates the risk of a skull or chunk. If all else fails, use the putter!

Position the ball as you normally would with your putter
Set 60 percent of your weight forward to ensure a solid strike
Allow the putter to move and accelerate through the ball
Use no wrist action in this putt along with a “short-to-long” stroke to keep the putter head moving through the ball

The Putter Back in the Stance

As stated earlier, the putter is the best choice if all else fails. But what happens if you have a bad lie, hardpan, a longer distance to go, or even long grass in front of you? This is when you need a touch more speed to get the ball through the stuff in front of you, but not take off when it hits the green. For this shot, you can position the ball back in your stance and still get all the benefits of using the Texas Wedge.

Position the ball just in front of your rear toe
60 percent of your weight is on your forward foot
Lean the putter-shaft forward so that the butt of the club points at your front pocket
Allow the putter head to move “upwards” slightly on the backswing
Make your forward stroke as you normally would
This no-wrist stroke will cause the ball to “pop” up in the air slightly and have more overspin than the regular Texas Wedge

The Fairway Wood or Rescue Club

As made popular by Tiger Woods, the fairway wood or rescue club from just off the green allows you an easier way to get up and down from good, bad, or tight lies with pins that are cut close to the edge of the green. As golf course architecture continues to evolve with “collection areas” around the green, you’ll continue to see this shot used more and more on Tour.

Set up to your fairway wood or rescue club as you normally would
Choke all the way down to the end of the grip by the shaft
Assume your normal putting grip
Use your putting stroke with NO wrist action allowing for the extra mass and length of the wood or rescue club to propel the ball onto the green
The lower-lofted fairway woods are most often used from farther off the green while the rescue clubs are used very close to the green
Only use this shot to very tight pin placements next to the edge of the green
This shot will also work on very steep hills and medium rough when you just need to get the ball moving

The Bellied Wedge

The Bellied Wedge is a great shot for touchy situations from just off the green where a putter or a rescue club won’t work. It’s great from just about any lie, and can even be used from a bunker if the lip is low enough. By using the extra mass of the sand-wedge and the thick flange of the sole, you will find that the ball has a quick burst of overspin and then rolls true while on the green, with little chance of “getting away from you.”

Position the ball in the middle of your stance just like you are using your putter
Weight 50-50 between your right and left
Assume your normal putting grip

Keep your wrists firm and stroke and impact the ball in the “belly” or equator of the ball. This will cause the ball to roll on the top of the grass and hit the green with a true roll.

The “Y” Chipping Style

The normal chipping procedure works wonders for all skill levels and it’s undoubtedly the most popular shot from just off the green. Sadly, this shot is too often used in the incorrect situations causing the ball to run too far past the pin. However, the mastery of this shot will allow you to save more strokes around the green for years to come.

Place the ball just in front of your rear toe
All the weight is positioned on your forward foot
The shaft and hands are pushed forward so that the butt of the club points at your forward pocket
Notice the lowercase “Y” formed between your arms, hands, and clubshaft
Lock in your wrists and put weight forward, then make your putting stroke, NOT a hit
At the finish, you should still see your weight forward and the “Y” intact
Use the higher-lofted clubs (LW, SW, PW etc.) for close shots and the lower-lofted clubs (9, 8, 7, 6 irons etc.) for your longer shots
Never change the length or tempo of this shot, just change your club

The Bump and Run

The close cousin of the “Y” Chipping Style is the Bump and Run where you have a closely mown area to hit over/through, yet it is too far for the putter, rescue, or a chip shot. Becoming proficient at this shot will help you to better negotiate the longer shots when you’re in trouble, under the trees and need to “run” the ball onto the green.

Place the ball back in your stance between your sternum and your rear toe depending on the length of the shot at hand
All the weight will be positioned on your forward foot
The clubshaft and hands will be pushed forward so that the butt of the club points almost to your forward pocket
Notice the lowercase “Y” formed between your arms, hands, and clubshaft
Lock in your wrists, put your weight forward and make your putting stroke, NOT a hit
You can use any club for this shot, usually something around a nine to seven-iron is the most popular
At the finish you should still see your weight forward and the “Y” intact

The Three Basic Pitch Shots

When you have to loft the ball over something, you should use some type of pitching motion. Pitch shots are smaller versions of your full swing.

The spine is vertical, not tilted to the rear of center and the weight is 60 percent forward
The butt of the club points at the belt loop, just forward of your belt buckle
The stance can be square or slightly open depending on your preference
The stroke is short to long with a slight body pivot
The weight stays forward all the way to the finish with a flat forward wrist
Go “down and through” the ball, “thumping” the grass on the way through

The Toe Down Pitch Shot

In this day and age of super-fast greens, it seems like every time you miss the green by only five or 10 feet, you’re faced with a near impossible shot. It’s here when the toe down pitch shot will come out super soft and stop like you have never seen before.

Set the club down on its toe (the heel is off the ground slightly)
The clubshaft is perpendicular to the ground
Use your putting grip with the ball in the middle of your stance
Make your normal putting motion, with no wrists, allowing the club to go down and through the ball during impact
You can open the blade, close the blade, and use it in all lies for different results

The Toe-In Skipper

Sometimes you’re faced with an uphill shot, or over a closely mown area; if you hit the ball short it will roll back to your feet and if you go long then the ball will skip right by the hole. This is the shot you see at No. 14 at Augusta when the professionals leave it short of the green and want to make sure the ball does not run away from them past the hole.

Take your sand wedge or lob wedge for this shot and place the ball back in your stance
Hood the club head so that the blade is de-lofted at address
Make an exaggerated in-to-out swing feeling like you are trying to “hook” the ball into the green, landing the ball short like the basic bump and run shot
This action will cause the ball to come off the face low, skip once or twice, check up and then gently roll out
This action will cause the ball to have just enough pace to move up the hill or through the mown area, but not too much as to run away from you past the pin

The Super High Flop Shot

There are times when your back is against the wall and the only option you have is to hit the Super High Flop Shot next to the pin. Thankfully, this shot condition doesn’t happen too often, but when it does you’ll be prepared. The only things you need to pull off this shot will be some luck, a little skill, and an accelerated swing through the ball into the finish.

Place the ball forward in your stance and open the club up, like you are going to balance a wine glass on the face
Aim your body slightly open to your target
The hands are even with the belt buckle, or slightly behind the ball at address and the weight is distributed 50-50
Set the club up quickly with your wrist hinge and allow your swing shape to be more of a “V”
Accelerate down and through the ball holding the club face open into a full finish; the harder you swing the higher the ball will go

Note: for an even higher shot allow your wrists to release “under” on the way through. This is not advisable, but it will give you slightly more height.

The High Bunker Shot

Every bunker shot nowadays seems like it’s 10 feet deep with a high lip to negotiate, hitting to a green that runs away from you! In this situation, you need a high, soft shot that comes out of the bunker and has no chance of hitting the lip on the way out. This shot involves a few simple set up changes and you must have a good lie and a lob wedge in your bag for sure.

Place the ball forward in your stance and open the club up, like you are going to balance a wine glass on the face
Aim your body slightly open to your target
The hands are even with the belt buckle, or slightly behind the ball at address and the weight is slightly rear of center
Set the club up quickly with your wrist hinge and allow your swing shape to be more of a “V”
Accelerate down and through the impact zone holding the club face open into a full finish; the harder you swing the higher the ball will go

Note: For an even higher shot allow your wrists to release “under” on the way through. This is not advisable, but it will give you slightly more height.

The Stab in the Bunker

Whenever you try to attack a tucked pin, the ball seems to plug in the bunker. This shot is not very hard when you have green to work with, but when the pin is cut close to the bunker face you need another, softer shot.

Set up as you would for your normal bunker shot
Face and body open, hands slightly ahead of the ball, with your weight forward, and the spine leaning slightly forward of center
Set the club upwards with the wrists in the “V” type of swinging motion and “stab” down behind the ball with NO finish whatsoever
This action will cause you to dig a huge hole where the ball sat originally
With no follow-through there won’t be much heat on the ball when it comes out of the bunker
By varying your follow-through you will find that you can actually begin to control the ball’s release once it hits the green, with some practice

The Long Running Bunker Shot

What do you do when you have a perfect lie in the bunker but a huge uphill slope to negotiate on the green? Do you carry it back to the pin or do you elect to try a long running bunker shot? Whatever you do when you choose the long running bunker shot, you better make sure you get the ball back to the pin, and here’s how to do it.

Set up as you normally would for a bunker shot
Face and body open, hands slightly ahead of the ball, with the weight forward slightly, and the spine leaning slightly forward of center
The simple adjustment to be made here is to take the club back “low and away” making your swing’s shape look more like a “U” than a “V”
Finally you will release fully through the shot allowing your club face to close through the ball, giving it more hook-spin
This hooking action through the ball will cause it to hit the green and run like a rabbit

Note: You can also take a lower-lofted club and hit the type of shot described above for the super-long runners like you see in the Open Championship.

The Severe Downhill Pitch Shot

What do you do when you have a severe downhill pitch shot to a green that runs away from you? How do you keep it on the green? My goal here is to put the ball on the green anywhere within 20 feet and get to the next hole without making a big number. Sometimes you have to take your licks and this is definitely one of those times!

Align your body facing the pin
Place the ball in line with the outside of your ankles
Lean down the slope slightly with your shoulders
Set the club with your wrists and finish LOW
This will allow the ball to come off the club solid and reduce the roll-out

Instruction

How to play your best golf when the temperature drops

Published

3 months ago

Feb 3, 2026

Brendon Elliott

The LPGA Tour is kicking off its 2026 season this week at Lake Nona Golf and Country Club in Orlando, and the pros are dealing with something most Florida golfers rarely face: freezing temperatures.

“It’s colder here than in the UK at the minute, which is a first,” said England’s Charley Hull during Wednesday’s media day at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions.

Even Lydia Ko, who lives at Lake Nona, seemed surprised by the cold snap. “We’re pretty much getting to below zero in celsius here, which maybe in other parts of the country they would be thankful, but when you’re in Florida it is a little bit of a surprise,” she said.

If the world’s best players are adjusting their games for cold weather, recreational golfers should, too. Here’s how to play smart when the mercury drops.

Understand What Cold Does to Your Game

Before you change anything, you need to know what you’re fighting against. Cold air is denser than warm air, which means your ball won’t fly as far. Period.

Hull noticed this immediately during practice rounds at Lake Nona. She mentioned hitting a gap wedge into the 18th hole during a previous win but needing a 4-iron during Tuesday’s practice round. That’s a difference of four or five clubs for the same shot.

Action item: Expect to lose 5-10 yards on every club in your bag when temperatures dip below 50 degrees. Plan accordingly and don’t be stubborn about club selection.

Layer Up Without Restricting Your Swing

Hull admitted she wore three pairs of pants during practice. While that might be extreme for most of us, staying warm is critical to playing well in cold conditions.

Your muscles need warmth to function properly. When you’re cold, your body tightens up and your swing gets shorter and faster. Neither of those things help you hit good golf shots.

Action item: Wear multiple thin layers instead of one bulky jacket. Look for golf-specific cold weather gear that stretches with your swing. Keep hand warmers in your pockets between shots. And don’t forget a good hat because you lose significant body heat through your head.

Take More Club Than You Think You Need

This is where ego gets in the way of good scores. When it’s cold, the ball doesn’t compress as well off the clubface. Combined with denser air, you’re looking at serious distance loss.

The pros at Lake Nona are dealing with a course that measures 6,642 yards but plays much longer this week. If they’re adjusting, you should too.

Action item: Take at least one extra club on every approach shot. In temperatures below 40 degrees, consider taking two extra clubs. It’s better to fly the ball to the back of the green than to come up short in a bunker.

Adjust Your Expectations on the Greens

Cold weather affects putting in ways most golfers don’t consider. The ball is harder and doesn’t roll as smoothly. Your hands are cold, making it harder to feel the putter. And if there’s any moisture on the greens, they’ll be slower than normal.

Ko mentioned that she still sometimes reads the greens wrong at Lake Nona despite being a member for years. Cold weather makes that challenge even tougher.

Action item: Hit putts more firmly than usual. The ball needs extra speed to hold its line on cold greens. Take a few extra practice strokes to get a feel for the speed before you putt.

Embrace the Mental Challenge

Hull said something interesting about cold weather golf: “I like the mental toughness of it.”

That’s the right attitude. Everyone on the course is dealing with the same conditions. The player who stays patient and doesn’t get frustrated by the extra difficulty will come out ahead.

Action item: Lower your expectations by a few strokes. If you normally shoot 85, accept that 90 might be a good score in 40-degree weather. Focus on solid contact and smart decisions rather than perfect shots.

Warm Up Longer and Smarter

This might be the most important tip of all. Cold muscles are tight muscles, and tight muscles get injured easily.

World No. 1 Jeeno Thitikul revealed she’s been protecting a wrist injury that bothered her late last season. Cold weather makes those kinds of injuries more likely if you don’t prepare properly.

Action item: Spend at least 20 minutes warming up before your round. Start with stretching, then hit easy wedge shots before working up to your driver. Keep moving between shots on the course to maintain body heat and flexibility.

The pros at Lake Nona this week will adapt and compete at the highest level despite the cold. You can do the same at your local course by following these tips and keeping a positive attitude.

PGA Professional Brendon Elliott is an award-winning coach and golf writer. You can check out his writing work and learn more about him by visiting BEAGOLFER.golf and OneMoreRollGolf.com. Also, check out “Playing Through” now on R.org, RG.org’s partner site, each Monday.

Editor’s note: Brendon shares his nearly 30 years of experience in the game with GolfWRX readers through his ongoing tip series. He looks forward to providing valuable insights and advice to help golfers improve their game. Stay tuned for more tips!

Instruction

3 lessons from Brooks Koepka that’ll actually lower your score

Published

3 months ago

Feb 2, 2026

Brendon Elliott

Brooks Koepka is back on the PGA Tour, and whether you love him or hate him, the guy knows how to win when it matters. After his LIV Golf stint, the five-time major champion returns this week at the Farmers Insurance Open.

What makes Koepka fascinating? He doesn’t fit the mold. His swing isn’t textbook. He doesn’t obsess over mechanics. Yet he’s won three PGA Championships and two U.S. Opens, regularly making it look easier than guys with prettier swings.

So, what can average golfers learn from someone who treats the game so differently? Quite a bit.

Stop Overthinking Every Shot

Koepka describes his approach as “reactionary” rather than mechanical. While most tour pros grind over swing thoughts, Brooks sees the target and hits it. No mental checklist.

This might be the most valuable lesson for weekend golfers who’ve watched too many YouTube swing videos.

How to actually do this:

On the range, hit five balls where you stare at the target for three seconds prior to addressing the ball. Don’t think about grip or stance. Just burn that target into your brain. You’ll be shocked at how pure you hit it when your brain focuses on where the ball is going instead of how you’re swinging.

Next time you play, give yourself a rule: Once you pull the club, you’ve got 15 seconds to hit. Koepka is one of the fastest players on tour because he doesn’t give his brain time to sabotage him.

If you feel tension in your hands at address, you’re trying to control too much. Koepka’s grip pressure is famously light. Loosen up until the club almost feels like it might slip, then add just enough pressure to hold on. That’s your swing thought: soft hands, see the target.

This approach works better under pressure. When you’re standing over that shot with water left and OB right, the last thing you need is a mental checklist. See it, feel it, hit it.

Play to Your Strengths (Even If They’re Not Pretty)

Koepka uses a strong grip that wouldn’t pass muster in some teaching circles. But he’s built his game around what works for him, elite driving distance and recovery skills. He doesn’t try to be someone he’s not.

Here’s how to build your game like Brooks:

Look at your last five rounds and figure out where you’re actually gaining strokes. Bombing it off the tee, but can’t hit greens? Lean into it. Play courses where distance matters more than precision. On tight holes, grip down on your 3-wood instead of trying to thread a driver through a keyhole you’ll miss seven times out of ten.

Koepka knows he can scramble, so he’s not afraid to miss greens. If you’re deadly from 50 to 75 yards, start leaving yourself those distances on the par 5’s instead of going for them in two every time.

Know when to take your medicine. Koepka in the trees at the PGA? He’s punching out to 100 yards, not trying to bend a 6-iron around three oaks. You’re in the rough with a flyer lie and water short? Hit your 8-iron to the middle and move on. That’s not playing scared, that’s playing smart.

Save Your Best for When It Counts

Here’s a wild stat: Koepka’s putting average in majors is often more than a full stroke better per round than in regular events. He elevates when pressure is highest.

How does an amateur tap into that gear? It’s not about trying harder, it’s about caring differently.

Here’s what actually works:

Decide which rounds matter to you. Club championship? Member-guest? That annual trip with college buddies? Circle those dates and treat them differently. Koepka doesn’t care much about regular tour events, but majors? That’s when he locks in.

Two weeks before your big round, change your practice. Stop beating balls mindlessly. Play nine holes in which every shot has consequences. Miss the fairway? Hit from the rough on the next hole too. Three-putt? Twenty push-ups. Koepka’s practice intensity ramps up before majors because he’s rehearsing pressure, not just swings.

Develop a between-shot routine that resets your brain. Koepka is famous for his blank expression after bad shots. Try this: After any shot, take three deep breaths while walking, then find something specific to notice, a tree, a cloud, someone’s shirt. That’s your reset button. By the time you reach your ball, the last shot is gone.

The Bottom Line

Brooks Koepka’s return reminds us there’s no single path to success in golf. His “substance over style” approach proves that results matter more than looking good.

You don’t need a perfect swing; you need a reliable one that holds up under pressure. You don’t need to hit every shot in the book; you need the shots you can count on. And you don’t need to play great every time; you need to play great when it matters.

Welcome back, Brooks. Thanks for the reminder that golf is ultimately about getting the ball in the hole, not winning style points.

Instruction

What we can learn from Blades Brown’s impressive American Express performance

Published

3 months ago

Jan 29, 2026

Brendon Elliott

Blades Brown made a big impression last week in the California desert, and not just because he’s only 18. He put up numbers that would catch any weekend golfer’s attention. Most of us won’t hit 317-yard drives or find 86% of our greens in regulation, but there’s a lot to learn from how Brown managed his game at The American Express.

Here are three practical lessons from his performance that you can use on your own course this weekend.

Step 1: Give Priority to Accuracy Over Distance Off The Tee

Brown’s driving stats are impressive. He averaged almost 318 yards off the tee, ranking 12th in the field. More importantly, he hit 76.79% of his fairways, tying for fourth place in the tournament.

Think about that ratio for a second. Brown could have swung harder, chased more distance and tried to overpower the course. Instead, he played smart golf and kept his ball in play.

Your Action Item: Next time you’re on the tee box, ask yourself a simple question before pulling the driver. Do you need maximum distance here, or do you need to be in the fairway? If there’s trouble lurking or the hole doesn’t demand every yard you can muster, take something off your swing. Grip down an inch. Make a three-quarter swing. Do whatever it takes to find the short grass. Brown’s approach illustrates that fairways lead to greens, and greens lead to birdies. He made 22 of them last week, along with an eagle.

The math is simple. When you’re hitting three out of every four fairways like Brown did, you’re giving yourself legitimate looks at the green with your approach shots. That’s when scoring happens.

Step 2: Commit To Hitting More Greens

This is where Brown really separated himself. He hit 62 of 72 greens in regulation, an 86.11% clip that tied for first in the entire field. Read that again. An 18-year-old kid tied for the lead in one of the most important ball-striking statistics in professional golf.

How did he do it? By keeping his ball in the fairway (see Step 1) and giving himself clean looks with mid-irons and wedges.

Your Action Item: Start tracking your greens in regulation. You don’t need a fancy app or a statistics degree. Just mark down whether you hit the green in the regulation number of strokes. Par 3s in one shot. Par 4s in two shots. Par 5s in three shots.

Once you know your baseline, set a goal to improve it by 10%. If you’re currently hitting five greens per round, aim for six. The beauty of this approach is that it forces you to think strategically about club selection and shot shape. Brown’s strokes gained approach number was positive (0.179), meaning he was better than the field average. You don’t need to be perfect. You just need to be on the dance floor more often.

When you hit more greens, you eliminate the need for heroic short game shots. Brown only had to scramble 10 times all week, and he got up and down 70% of the time. That’s solid, but the real story is that he rarely put himself in scrambling situations to begin with.

Step 3: Minimize Mistakes And Stay Patient

Here’s the stat that jumps off the page: Brown made only three bogeys all week. Three. In four rounds of professional golf against the best players in the world.

He also made just one double bogey. That kind of clean card doesn’t happen by accident. It happens when you play within yourself, avoid the big miss and trust that pars are never bad scores.

Your Action Item: Before your next round, decide that you’re going to play boring golf. No hero shots over water. No driver on tight holes just because you can. No aggressive pins when there’s a safe side of the green.

Brown’s performance shows us that consistency beats flash every single time. He didn’t lead the field in any single strokes gained category, but he was solid across the board. That’s how you post numbers and cash checks.

Give these three steps a try. Your scorecard will thank you.

PGA Professional Brendon Elliott is an award-winning coach and golf writer. You can check out his writing work and learn more about him by visiting BEAGOLFER.golf and OneMoreRollGolf.com. Also, check out “The Starter” now on R.org, RG.org’s partner site, each Monday.