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Bounce Your Chips and Pitches On Tight Lies

Bounce can be your friend when it comes to chipping and pitching, especially on tight lies. It can allow you to strike the ball properly even if your technique isn’t perfect. Colby will share his technique with you today.

By Quite The Chap
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Bounce can be your friend when it comes to chipping and pitching, especially on tight lies. It can allow you to strike the ball properly even if your technique isn’t perfect. Colby will share his technique with you today.

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Quite The Chap
Quite The Chap

Colby Johannson has been a lover of golf ever since his departure from diapers. He took his talents to Arizona to play college golf but his dream of pursing an acting career pulled him to the West Coast. After a successful decade in front of and behind the camera, Colby's love and talent of golf has remained a constant and is what lead to the creation of Quite The Chap.

20 Comments

  1. Steve Myrvold

    October 6, 2018 at 3:08 pm

    I’m old, 75. Years ago all the teachers taught “hands ahead, forward shaft lean” style of chipping with pw, 9, 8. Now, it’s verticle shaft using bounce. I’ve been caught in between for several years…destroying what was once a good maybe even great short game.
    If I use the bounce style, I usually have the trailing bounce edge hit turf just before club hits ball. I think our course has “sticky grass”. I get a bad result. Think I will commit to going back to what I first learned.
    Now pitch shots from 30 or so yards…bounce is king.

    Reply

    • Quite The Chap

      October 8, 2018 at 5:46 pm

      75 is but a number, Steve! Everyone’s different, you have to use what works best for you. Keep it up!

      Reply

  2. Thomas Brokl

    February 19, 2019 at 3:10 pm

    Minneapolis, Minnesota

    22 inches of snow base, 6 more inches will arrive around 2-8 AM.

    I will try to remember this when spring comes in April/May/June.

    p.s. I inadvertently deleted the e-mail on the drill Luke Donald uses to sharpen his putting game. I searched the web site, but could not find it. Am I dreaming that this video was GolfersRx?

    Reply

    • Quite The Chap

      February 19, 2019 at 3:22 pm

      Hey Thomas, you’re not dreaming! It’s a video titled, Keep It Random, Keep It Stressful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1LUiOv3lvw

      Reply

    • Alan Baggoo

      June 14, 2021 at 10:32 am

      I hear you Steve. In my experience the techniques are both useful – but simply cannot be mixed. Ideally we would be able to bounce when we want and chop when we want but that requires lots of practice. Probably best to choose one technique and stick with it. Also when we age our rotation decreases – the bounce shot requires a shallow approach into the ball which only happens with lower and upper body rotation. The chop can be done successfully with very little rotation and might be better for the player with less flexibility.

      Reply

  3. Duane Bausman

    April 26, 2019 at 9:02 am

    Colby,

    Good topic – HOWEVER – “use the bounce” is meaningless to a vast majority of players. You never described how…..to use the bounce. Maybe obvious to some, but most definately not obvious to most. I play with hacks – I know their game and I talk with them about this critical area of the game – THEY HAVE NO CLUE.

    You are great in what you do – this time it needed more.

    Thanks,

    Duane

    Reply

    • Quite The Chap

      May 6, 2019 at 11:27 am

      Hey Duane, good call. We can put something together on how to use the bounce, what it is, etc.

      Reply

      • Jay Berger

        July 10, 2019 at 7:12 pm

        send me a copy of that after you put it together. Thanks,

        Reply

  4. Tom C

    July 3, 2019 at 4:08 pm

    Colby, interesting that I have the exact same 54 sand wedge however, I never realized that I needed to lay the club head out flatter to take full advantage of the bounce. This is probably the reason why I struggle with getting my high chips up in the air consistently.
    Thanks for a great tip. I’ll be working on this tomorrow!

    Reply

    • Quite The Chap

      July 4, 2019 at 4:25 pm

      That’s great to hear, Tom! Keep it up!

      Reply

  5. Bob

    July 10, 2019 at 5:29 pm

    Well 75 year old, I am 76. So there. I agree that the bounce can be considered a gift, but it can be a tricky one. Let’s face it. A (Oops! I almost said The) problem most of us have is that we simply don’t practice enough, and even when we do, we don’t necessarily work on the things that will get us from point A to point B in our never ending struggle with this wonderful, but frustrating game. OK, so bounce. Just the other day I saw Sir Nick Faldo say on TV that most amateurs would be better off going with a 7 or 8 iron (or a 6 or a 9 or a hybrid) instead of a wedge when they chip. For years I have followed the practice of picking one club (in my case usually the 56 degree wedge) for use around the green. The idea behind this is that if you are not going to practice much, maybe you should try to get really good with one club rather than trying to master 3, 4, 5, or more clubs. The problem is that while all of this advice makes sense on some level, none of it is what we really need, which of course, is magic.

    When I am lecturing my friends about spending too much effort on trying to hit their drivers farther, I always tell them that they could save more strokes by improving their short games, including of course, putting. I think this is fairly obvious, but still, we all want to hit the ball farther, don’t we? And of course, if you can’t keep your drives in play, that is a whole different story. It’s great getting up and down, but if you are saving an 8, who really cares?

    Still, the short game is important. My current thinking is that Sir Nick is probably right. The simplest shot is a putt. Next is probably a chip using a putting stroke. If you play with this a little, you can get fairly accurate with this stroke using several different clubs. The basic premise is that the shorter, flatter and slower the swing you use, the lesser is the likelihood of some egregious error, like a chunk or a skull (I won’t even mention another nasty possibility).

    So once we agree that the short game is important, and we should keep it simple, where does the bounce come in, and what about the guy who said he was taught to keep his hands in front of the ball with his weight on the left side. Well, for me, the bounce is another variable. Even so however, it still might help you if you are willing to play with it and figure out how it works. If you use the (dare I say) old school approach of weight forward, hands in front, you probably will not get much help from the bounce. This approach will probably get you a crisper chip. Depending on how much loft you are using (and how much you reduce it via this technique) you are likely to get either a shot that pops up in the air, bounces, maybe checks up, and then rolls out; or a shot that just hits a fair distance from the hole and then rolls out for that distance. If you have a good lie or a tight lie, you might do better to use the putting stroke and just get the ball slightly airborne before rolling out to the hole. If the ball is not sitting up or is in deep rough, you might want to try an “old school” chip. Or (wait for it) you might want to try using the bounce. For example you could set up with your hands even with the ball, and let the club head pass them at impact after contacting the grass slightly behind the ball. You could even (as suggested in the video) open your stance, keep the club head facing the target and swing along a line parallel to your stance rather than along the target line. If this sounds fairly simple, read it again. There is a lot of nuance to either of those bounce employing shots. Still, I would not tell anyone not to try them. It would just be best to try them at a practice green rather than on the course (but each to his own).

    One of the great things about golf is that there are so many ways to do things. This is also one of the things that makes golfers crazy. I could go on (and on, and on), but I am sure anybody still reading this gets the point.

    Reply

    • Raymond CHASTEL

      July 11, 2019 at 5:52 am

      The best chipper ever was Severiano BALLESTEROS (See him chipping at the ENGLISH OPEN !),then second best PAUL RUNYAN .Chip like SEVE,with all the clubs in the bag ,weight on front leg ,hands very low ,on the shaft ,turn pivot ,hold and you’ll beat your opponents each and every time,like SEVE who ridiculed his US and English opponents at the various OPEN’s he won.
      The PAUL RUNYAN technique isn’t bad but less precise

      Reply

  6. Raymond CGASTEL

    July 11, 2019 at 5:43 am

    This video is completely misleading .You will notice that the lie in this video is pretty good ,so there’s no much risk of having the bottom of the sole of this wedge “the bounce ” ricocheting off the turf.
    But when the lie is tight ,no much grass under the ball ,the large “bounce “under the sole will hit the turf and you will skull the ball .
    So better use a wedge with minimal “bounce ” and “pinch “the ball off the turf

    Reply

    • Quite The Chap

      July 15, 2019 at 7:49 am

      Hi Raymond, I can answer some of these points/concerns. I don’t consider myself the best chipper in the world and so using the bounce (even with a good lie) allows be to ‘miss’ the shot and still have the ability to pull it off. A lot of people talk about pinching the ball off the turf and on tight lies, the problem with that is that you expose the leading edge. This can cause to the leading edge dig into the turf and cause chunks in a quick manner. Hence the use of the bounce, where you can be a little off. If you’re waaaaay off, then yes, you can definitely skip the wedge and skull the ball…it’s happened a time or two.

      Reply

  7. Bob Pegram

    November 9, 2019 at 8:38 pm

    To do what you are showing the bounce on the wedge doesn’t have to be a big angle, but the wider the sole the better. A very wide sole with a small bounce angle will cause the wedge to glide along the turf if you come down a little behind the ball and it will still make decent contact. The wideness makes sticking the wedge into the ground behind the ball almost impossible. The low bounce angle keeps the wedge from bouncing up off the turf and skulling / blading the ball if ground contact is behind the ball rather than under it.
    Some companies don’t even make wedges like this. Their wedges are made for tour pros. Then they expect an average golfer to be able to use them. Wedges with wider soles include the Cleveland CBX, Callaway Sure out, a few Callaway wedge models, some Maltby / Golfworks wedges (they have made them for years), I think a couple of Rally wedges (Tour Edge), etc. It takes a little experimentation to find out which bounce angle works best for you because the farther ahead your hands are, the bigger the needed angle. Also, people’s angle of attack of the head coming into the ball varies so the way the wedge reacts can be different for two golfers. A steeper approach into the ball requires a little more bounce angle, although the wider soles partially compensate for this.

    Reply

  8. Dennis Beach

    May 16, 2020 at 7:27 am

    Was taught(self-read a lot of golf mags)wedges must have a very decending stroke, especially on short chips. All my wedges(pw, gap, sand, lob) are all low bounce, as most of the courses in this area are all hard pan lies mostly. When in sand, I make sure to follow thru on my stroke, as most amateurs stop when they make contact. As far as opening the club face, I do this on very short chips greenside, and even with low bounce wedges, it still works well as long as you finish your stroke. Big amateur fail that I see when I am on the course- you must finish your swing even when it is only what I call “from hip to hip”, which is how I can control distance. If I played in much more softer, more lush lies, higher bounce would be something that I would have in my wedges and irons.

    Reply

  9. Gene

    January 26, 2021 at 6:46 pm

    Coming up on age 72, my “go to pitch iron” has gone down in degrees, it’s now my PW. When I was in my 50’s I played with a guy in his 70’s using only a 3 wood, 9 wood, 7, 9, SW, Putter = 12 hdcp going more for accuracy than distance. From 100yds in, the word DEADLY was in the forefront. What he told me, work on getting up and down from EVERYWHERE inside of 100 yds sand included, because that’s where the money’s made. I play a 3 and 4 hybrid, 9 wood, 6,8,PW, AW, 60degree, putter=14hdcp and I think of him every time I play and have no idea what the bounce is.

    Reply

    • Keith @ GolfersRX

      January 30, 2021 at 7:37 am

      Thanks for sharing Gene and Happy New Year! Sage advice from your friend. Data reveals that hitting it close within 100 yards is where scores are formed.

      Check out this tip from Mr. Short Game and let us know what you think.
      https://golfersrx.com/stop-coming-up-short-on-par-3s/

      Reply

  10. kei smi

    January 2, 2022 at 8:36 am

    At he end of the vid…. A little disappointing to hear one has to hit it PERFECTLY to still avoid a not so good shot!! LOL

    Reply

  11. Tim Cotroneo

    February 12, 2022 at 5:23 pm

    Hi Colby,

    Is there someone you’d recommend regarding a short game school?
    I need help with baby chips and putting distance control.
    Thanks.

    Tim Cotroneo

    Reply

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