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Toe down chipping have you tried it?

This looks like a great shot for a lot of situations. I am.going to work on adding that to my arsenal.
 
I do once in a while - not enough to build any confidence and I can't remember where I picked it up from. But I use it from the rough and severely short sided and i need to have it land on the fringe. Only ever tried this with my 58...never tried it with anything lower but reading some of the posts, I think I'm going to have to try. I can see the appeal though - iirc, it's very similar to a putter stroke.
 
I’ve tried it, but don’t care for the way it launches to the right. I ended up only using it for really short sided short shots, with a SW or LW and a putting stroke. I found I could control distance better that way than with trying to make a small lob shot swing at the time.


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MWard said:
I believe the official name for it is the Runyon chip but yeah it’s a great little move for when you have squirrelly lies or you’re really into the grain. Unless you just do the opposite and dig the toe into the turf, you really can’t mess it up.

It does tend to come out a little soft though in my experience, so sometimes you need to hit it a little harder. I’m not sure if it’s due to not really compressing it, or because you’re not always hitting the center or what.
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You are correct, Runyan made that type of shot famous. He was nicknamed “Little Poison” for his small 130 lb. size and amazing short game. He won 37 tournaments including a PGA Championship against Snead 8 and 7 despite having Snead drive it past him 75 yards all day. He’s the smallest golfer to have great success on the PGA Tour and taught many of the best players for decades after his tour days were over. His book, The Short Way to Lower Scoring, is still considered one of the best ever and required reading for any golfer, IMO. I’ve used his chipping techniques for decades and it’s a strength of my game.

 
in terms of typical chipping I don't use it a lot. Ive tried it and it tends to be very mixed results for me. I will use it though if I am going to use anything higher than GW (PW-hybrid). I really utilize it when I use my hybrid to chip from off the green.

Glad you found something to make you more comfortable in an uncomfortable position :)
 
Honestly never tried it before, something to keep in the back of my mind in the future!
 
badolds said:
Last week me and @mikeg_74 worked on my chipping and he introduced a method that I had never tried before. Mike has a great short game that he has used to kick my butt more than once. I have been focusing on my short game leading up to the Grandaddy because I can practice it without going to the course. Before this year I always kept the clubface square for all shots. I have been practicing opening up the face and using the bounce of the wedge to hit high soft shots that stop quick. I really like that method but it does not work well for tight lies.

Mikes method uses a lower lofted club and a bump and run method. He had me hold the toe down on the club at address and impact. This felt completely foreign to me at first like my hands were too far away from my body. I had to trust that this would work and hit my first shots after mike hit several perfect shots explaining his method. The results were clearly better than my previous way of doing things. Why is it better? The toe down method virtually eliminates the club digging in on fat strikes. That is what I am looking to avoid, the fat chip/pitch. He also explained the importance of keeping the club low to the ground after impact to encourage the ball to run out. My move is to turn the club over after impact which results in the ball checking up. Although I wanted to keep the club low after impact that day it was hard to implement that change immediately. After a few days of practice it has become more natural to me.

During my practice I noticed a great benefit of this method. I can pop the ball up with predictable results from any lie. Tight fairway, bare ground, down in the rough? No problem, Toe down and take a confident stroke BOOM!! This will be a game changer for me on the course because I don't feel like I can screw it up, it just works. I have hit a few thin shots this way but nothing that worries me. I would rather see the ball run past the green from a thin strike than the fat shot that goes nowhere.

If you struggle with fat chips and pitches I would suggest trying this out.
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@badolds thanks for bringing this to the forum. Chipping out of deepish rough was a weak spot and I have been doing this the last couple days and it is substantially easier than trying to get the entire wedge under the ball. It makes sense though because the bounce helps prevent digging so this method really takes the bounce out of the wedge so you can get the club down to the ball. Great tip and again thanks for sharing!!
 
I used this method a very long time ago, but had forgotten about it. I found it very useful when my lie was weird or my confidence was low for chipping. Cool that it's working for you!
 
I hit most every chip with a fairly vertical shaft, standing close to the ball. This method slightly elevates the heel and dramatically improves consistency for me. If I do catch the ball a tad heavy, the resulting shot is still pretty good as there is less clubhead interacting with the grass.
 
I normally play in tight lies here in South Texas, but I'm real curious how this would work for me. Going to have to give it a shot, I do get uncomfortable when the ball nestles down a bit on chips.
 
I remember watching a "playing lesson" on gc where one of the senior tour guys (I think it was Tom Watson) was preaching this. Have tried it with some pretty good success since my most frustrating shot it that short pitch where the blade gets stuck and makes me want to snap my club in half
 
It was one of the first chipping techniques I learned when I picked up the game. A friend who was a teaching pro at one point suggested it as a good option for newer golfers. It was also taught in the PGA Tour Academy Training DVD’s.

It has its place and works good from tighter lies where you have some green to work with, but it certainly isn’t a catch all.
 
I learned it from a David Ledbetter vid when I first started playing. If I'm having a bad chipping day I'll still use it.
 
I do it if I’m in a soft lie. Mainly to not chunk it. I like to use spin more so this is not my go to chip since there is zero spin with this type of shot.


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-CRW- said:
It was one of the first chipping techniques I learned when I picked up the game. A friend who was a teaching pro at one point suggested it as a good option for newer golfers. It was also taught in the PGA Tour Academy Training DVD’s.

It has its place and works good from tighter lies where you have some green to work with, but it certainly isn’t a catch all.
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Definitely not a solution for every chip. I am using it for balls nestled down in thick grass.
 
I use the technique frequently on bump and runs and I change clubs based on the length of the chip using anything from PW to 6i. I find it also works very well when chipping on Bermuda as there is less drag and the club doesn’t tend to get caught.
 
After nearly a year I am still using this technique with great success. I do not use it on every chip or pitch but when the lie is tight it is a way to hit great shots. I pulled a 8 iron way left yesterday on a par three and the ball was sitting on bare ground under a tree. I stepped up to it with confidence and hit a perfect 25 yard pitch with my Apex Pro A wedge for a tap in par.

I challenge anybody reading this to go outside and find some bare ground or tall grass that is not thick where the ball is on the ground. Grab a lower lofted wedge and put the toe down at address, take a confident stroke and see if that ball does not jump out with great results. Having this shot in your arsenal with the confidence it breeds will put you on the green more often than not.
 
Especially good for the thin lies that you get this time of year here in north Texas. then you get the 3 days of torrential downpours and the lies get ridiculous....it works. I still like conventional chipping or short shots when the grass is here, but when the lie calls for it, toe down wins out
 
I chip this way all the time.

I use the same set up, and stroke as I do when putting. This puts the club shaft in a more up right position, which in turn puts the toe of the club face lower than the heel at impact.

I impact the ball more towards the toe of the club.

I found that my accuracy, and distance control were much better with this set up, and stroke.

With a little practice, using a more lofted club, the same set up, and stroke can also be used for shorter pitch shots.

Definitely a stroke saver when done properly.
 
I definitely don't use it often compared to some in here. I end up on the fringe a lot and have had to play quite a few courses with grainy greenside lies this summer though, and do occasionally employ this method. It's a great option when needed.
 
I use a variation of this method with each chip/pitch shot. For me it is consistent and I know a bad strike, will still get the ball moving forward and helps me avoid the decel/chunk shot.
 
Interesting. I've kind of gravitated to the hybrid for these shots quite a bit.
I just happened to be practicing putting off the toe of my putter yesterday during the golf broadcast. (y)
 
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