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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.
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.
Definitely not a solution for every chip. I am using it for balls nestled down in thick grass.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.
Phil explains the toe down chip.
https://www.golf.com/instruction/around-the-green/2019/11/19/phil-mickelson-chip-video-toe-down/