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Why are more chippers not used by mid-high handicappers?

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V14_Heels

V14_Heels

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Albatross 2024 Club
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Location
Richmond, VA
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I bought a cheap 37 degree chipper about a year ago, and I've NEVER turned back. I absolutely love it, and can play most shots within 30 yards as a bump and run. I even went one step further and recently bought a 55 degree chipper, and I'm now able to use that as a club that I can loft over greenside bunkers or any shot that I can't play a bump and run on. I even used it out of a sand bunker this past weekend and it worked fine.

I don't think there is a harder club in the bag to use as a beginning golfer than a wedge. The driver is definitely in that debate, but overall the amount of chips I thinned and duffed before getting a chipper was astronomical, and now all I've done for the last year is step up to the ball with my chipper and basically use a putting stroke to bump and run it up there. I just continue to get better and better with the feel.

So that leads me to my question, why do more people not use them? I've yet to encounter a single person on the course that also uses one. I'm assuming at some point I'll want more control, cause your not going to be able to shape a whole lot with it, but how detrimental will it be? At what handicap will it begin to matter? Any thoughts?
 
My first thought as a high handicapper is, what is a chipper?
 
Ego
 
I think it is basically a putter that has a chipper face. I know someone at my local course that uses one and does really well with it, but only one person that I know of.
 
This is a chipper and it is single use. I have one sitting in a bag at home and never use it. I will give it away to anybody local.

1628208302473.png
 
Many feel it is some sort of cheating. But, they are legal. When I had the yips. My chipper kept me in the game. You still have to work at it. So, I don't consider it cheating. Another argument against these is they take a spot in the bag. Most would rather use a 7 iron in a similar way.
 
Why use a chipper when a high handicapper 7i iron has a sole that's probably not too far off from one of a chipper, and you didn't have to give up a spot in the bag for it?

Also.. Why not just practice with a regular wedge?
 
Carolina Golfer said:
Many feel it is some sort of cheating. But, they are legal. When I had the yips. My chipper kept me in the game. You still have to work at it. So, I don't consider cheating. Another argument against these is they take a spot in the bad. Most would rather use a 7 iron in a similar way.
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This is fair. I had 3 wedges and what I found is I was never going to two of my wedges, I was just never confident in them. It was about 75% I would duff them or thin them, so it was easy for me to give those two clubs up.
 
MWard said:
Why use a chipper when a high handicapper 7i iron has a sole that's probably not too far off from one of a chipper, and you didn't have to give up a spot in the bag for it?

Also.. Why not just practice with a regular wedge?
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No not really? I'd actually say a 7i has a much different sole, shaft length is longer, the weight is WAY different. The head of my 37 degree chipper weighs almost 35 grams more than my 7i, and my 55 degree chipper is close to 75 grams heavier. There more like a putter with a 37 degree loft than 7i, hence why I can just mimic my putting stroke.

This is exactly what I'm talking about. Sell me on a regular wedge? What do I gain except a much harder to hit club that I can thin or duff way easier? It's really tough to duff or thin my chipper. I can...but if I just use a big putting stroke my % is just way higher solid contact than a wedge. I have 12 other clubs to practice in my bag and don't get to do it for hours a day, so what do I gain?
 
It looks just like any other club but has a thicker bottom?

I would say that it doesn't take away a spot in the bag of a high handicapper since I bet they could easily do without one of the other clubs and not really notice. The better people are the more different clubs they use, the worse they are we seem to use the same clubs that we are more comfortable with.

It's probably not also very prominent because it's not discussed often, this may be the first time I've heard of it.

Driver, wood, hybrid are by far my worst clubs, I would say I lose more strokes on those clubs than my chipping or bump and runs.
 
V14_Heels said:
No not really? I'd actually say a 7i has a much different sole, shaft length is longer, the weight is WAY different. The head of my 37 degree chipper weighs almost 35 grams more than my 7i, and my 55 degree chipper is close 75 grams heavier. There more like a putter with a 37 degree loft than 7i, hence why I can just mimic my putting stroke.

This is exactly what I'm talking about. Sell me on a regular wedge? What do I gain except a much harder to hit club that I can thin or duff way easier? It's really tough to duff or thin my chipper. I can...but if I just use a big putting stroke my % is just way higher solid contact than a wedge. I have 12 other clubs to practice in my bag and don't get to do it for hours a day, so what do I gain?
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Depends on your iron's sole. If you had something like a Cleveland Altitude, those things are as wide as a chipper. You can always choke down and essentially get the same style of club. Do you not often choke down on your clubs around the green if your stance and the ball's lie is a little awkward?

If you're thinning or duffing your wedge, it's a technique issue. There's some sort of breakdown happening that's causing you the difficulties you have. It requires a bit of practice, and honestly not as much as you'd think. It will almost always bleed into the rest of your iron game, which is useful.

A wedge, I can use for a full shot, partial, pitch, chip, bunker. All in one club. Your chipper at 55, is it specifically a club for around the greens or do you use it for all of the ones I listed as well? No snark, just a sincere question as I don't use a chipper. I'm not sure of the versatility it has. For me, I like that any of my 3 wedges can be used at different distances to accomplish a similar result, and it really doesn't take all that much practice. It's just gettin out there when you're sorta bored and just having fun with it.
 
V14_Heels said:
I don't think there is a harder club in the bag to use as a beginning golfer than a wedge. The driver is definitely in that debate, but overall the amount of chips I thinned and duffed before getting a chipper was astronomical,

So that leads me to my question, why do more people not use them? I've yet to encounter a single person on the course that also uses one. I'm assuming at some point I'll want more control, cause your not going to be able to shape a whole lot with it, but how detrimental will it be? At what handicap will it begin to matter? Any thoughts?
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The first thing I used to teach my friends who were just starting out how to do was chip and pitch with a wedge. For most beginners, it’s an easy shot to learn and teaches them to get their weight on the left side. Full shots are not that much different except with a longer swing. The short swing is easy to control. It’s a shot you can practice almost anywhere, will be used on most holes and can save a lot of strokes. You can use a wedge from 100 yards on in. If the putting stroke helps you chip better, you can use it with almost any club in the bag. Taking some time to learn to use a wedge properly is a skill every golfer needs to have if he wants to save strokes.
 
I can’t wait to see what Finley has to say when he sees a chipper in your bag...

It’s going to be ...

 
JDax said:
I can’t wait to see what Finley has to say when he sees a chipper in your bag...

It’s going to be ...

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Lol I've already thought about it...there's alot of untraditional crap in my bag, so I'm sure I'll take some hits. I can handle it though.
 
MWard said:
Why use a chipper when a high handicapper 7i iron has a sole that's probably not too far off from one of a chipper, and you didn't have to give up a spot in the bag for it?

Also.. Why not just practice with a regular wedge?
Click to expand...

A regular wedge is not the right club when a chipper is used. The chipper generally has a shorter shaft and more upright lie angle than a 7 iron. It is easier for a higher handicap player to use. There are lots of clubs that could perform similar duty to a chipper like a hybrid or fairway wood but they require more technique than a chipper. Technique is in short supply for higher handicaps.
 
Chef23 said:
A regular wedge is not the right club when a chipper is used. The chipper generally has a shorter shaft and more upright lie angle than a 7 iron. It is easier for a higher handicap player to use. There are lots of clubs that could perform similar duty to a chipper like a hybrid or fairway wood but they require more technique than a chipper. Technique is in short supply for higher handicaps.
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More upright, sure. I agree. It's essentially a lofted putter. So hear me out, why not pick the heel of the club up a bit and choke down and get virtually the same thing?
 
I used to struggle badly with chipping. A 2 minute lesson from my pro and a few Phil videos have changed that dramatically. Unfortunately it does take some time and effort to practice. That can be difficult as
many courses don’t allow chipping on the practice greens. In fact most courses have next to nothing for any type of short game practice.

My recommendation would be take a lesson and find a place to practice practice practice. And not just chipping. Bump and runs with 9i, 7i, even hybrids or woods. Pitch shots for sure. If you can’t get good at all of it quickly, and you probably won’t, find one that seems to be working best for you and work on that until you have it down then move on to the next.

I do believe the best way to make the largest impact on your scores is to identify your biggest weakness in your game and focus on improving that until it is no longer the weakest and move to the next. You may even find it alternates between 3-4 different things as one gets better then the others catch up and the first is now the worst again but that is fine because that should mean your scores have dropped as all those skills have improved.

I understand using the chipper and wouldn’t discourage it. For now. But I would also suggest you continue to practice with wedges and try to work towards a time you no longer need that chipper.
 
V14_Heels said:
Lol I've already thought about it...there's alot of untraditional crap in my bag, so I'm sure I'll take some hits. I can handle it though.
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I was just warning ya... lol
 
MWard said:
Depends on your iron's sole. If you had something like a Cleveland Altitude, those things are as wide as a chipper. You can always choke down and essentially get the same style of club. Do you not often choke down on your clubs around the green if your stance and the ball's lie is a little awkward?

If you're thinning or duffing your wedge, it's a technique issue. There's some sort of breakdown happening that's causing you the difficulties you have. It requires a bit of practice, and honestly not as much as you'd think. It will almost always bleed into the rest of your iron game, which is useful.

A wedge, I can use for a full shot, partial, pitch, chip, bunker. All in one club. Your chipper at 55, is it specifically a club for around the greens or do you use it for all of the ones I listed as well? No snark, just a sincere question as I don't use a chipper. I'm not sure of the versatility it has. For me, I like that any of my 3 wedges can be used at different distances to accomplish a similar result, and it really doesn't take all that much practice. It's just getting out there when you're sorta bored and just having fun with it.
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I think this is a pretty fair response, but I mean overall I'm not going to swap out my 7i to give it a bigger sole so it matches my chipper...and that still doesn't make the weight anywhere similar. Choking down could be an option, but I still don't think it'll feel very similar to my chipper. I mean it matches a set I have right, so I'm not about to buy a 7i with a bigger sole and more head weight?

Of course there's a breakdown happening. I'm a 21 handicap. I still have a breakdown in 2 out of every 3 shots, but I have found the chippers help reduce that flaw and break down dramatically with my chipping game, so I can focus and practice on the other areas of my game that are creating way more issues towards my higher scores. Arccos has me at around a 9 handicap on putting, 17 on short, I'm 29-30 on approach and driving. I want to be practicing that 29-30 more right now than anything else.

I can use it for most of the shots you discussed above. It does create somewhat of a gap for me at around 70-85 yards that I had with a regular wedge, but I've just been using my GW with a 3/4 swing to fill that gap instead. I've not messed with it out of a bunker much yet, but I have a regular high degree lofted wedge that I play out of the bunker typically. But again I'm only in my 3rd season as a 21 handicapper, so I'm not out there practicing a bunch of bunker shots yet, I'll get there though.
 
JDax said:
I was just warning ya... lol
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I'll love it. I'm a really hard guy to offend, I can't wait for him to sell me on a JAWS or Mack Daddy. I've never been fit for wedges, so it's entirely possible there might be a wedge out there that feels just as good to me as a chipper, but so far I've yet to come across anything that feels NEAR as comfortable.
 
V14_Heels said:
I think this is a pretty fair response, but I mean overall I'm not going to swap out my 7i to give it a bigger sole so it matches my chipper...and that still doesn't make the weight anywhere similar. Choking down could be an option, but I still don't think it'll feel very similar to my chipper. I mean it matches a set I have right, so I'm not about to buy a 7i with a bigger sole and more head weight?

Of course there's a breakdown happening. I'm a 21 handicap. I still have a breakdown in 2 out of every 3 shots, but I have found the chippers help reduce that flaw and break down dramatically with my chipping game, so I can focus and practice on the other areas of my game that are creating way more issues towards my higher scores. Arccos has me at around a 9 handicap on putting, 17 on short, I'm 29-30 on approach and driving. I want to be practicing that 29-30 more right now than anything else.

I can use it for most of the shots you discussed above. It does create somewhat of a gap for me at around 70-85 yards that I had with a regular wedge, but I've just been using my GW with a 3/4 swing to fill that gap instead. I've not messed with it out of a bunker much yet, but I have a regular high degree lofted wedge that I play out of the bunker typically. But again I'm only in my 3rd season as a 21 handicapper, so I'm not out there practicing a bunch of bunker shots yet, I'll get there though.
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Oh well no, I wouldn't expect you to buy a 7i that didn't match your set, that would be silly lol. But if you happened to already have wide soled irons, it wouldn't be a massive adjustment in the scheme of things.

At the end of the day, I mean play what you feel gives you the best chance of getting up and down in the least amount of shots possible. If we're paired together, doesn't bother me one bit. Let's just both go have a day of it. If your Arccos is putting your approach in the upper end of the scale, I'd probably suggest working more on iron play than driving. Yes, a driver can absolutely get you in trouble if you have no idea where it's going. It's what you do on the next shot that matters though. If you can get to a comfort level with your irons and wedges, you can always change your strategy on a hole and turn it into a par 5 and just try and make a hard earned 4, or an easy 5, so to speak (try not to do this on par 3's, it is demoralizing when you're like welp, 5 is in play haha)

I bet if the iron game improved, the wedge stuff would improve by default as you work on just different shots and trajectories. Really it comes down to how bored do you get on the range, and what sounds fun to try and pull off?
 
V14_Heels said:
I'll love it. I'm a really hard guy to offend, I can't wait for him to sell me on a JAWS or Mack Daddy. I've never been fit for wedges, so it's entirely possible there might be a wedge out there that feels just as good to me as a chipper, but so far I've yet to come across anything that feels NEAR as comfortable.
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Or a Mack Daddy CB?
 
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