Chipping Tips For Beginners - Answering Your Common Questions

There are few things in golf more frustrating than hitting a great drive down the middle, a solid approach shot just short of the green, and then... the dreaded flub. A chunked chip that goes two feet. A bladed one that screams across the green into a bunker. Suddenly, a simple par or bogey turns into a double or triple.

If you're a beginner, you know this feeling all too well. The area around the green, which should be a scoring opportunity, feels like a minefield. You're wasting shots, and your confidence is taking a beating.

But here’s the good news: chipping doesn't have to be that complicated. This guide addresses common beginner questions about chipping with a simple formula: one issue, one likely explanation, and one practice test.

Let's quiet the noise, get back to basics, and turn that frustration into confidence.

Quick Answer: Common Chipping Questions for Beginners

For those in a hurry, here are the direct answers to the most frequent chipping questions from new golfers:

Why do I chunk my chips? You're hitting the ground before the ball. This is almost always because your weight is on your back foot and/or you're trying to "scoop" the ball with your wrists, causing the bottom of your swing to be behind the ball.
Why do I thin (or skull) my chips? You're hitting the equator of the ball with the club's leading edge. This is caused by the same root issue as chunking—a desire to "lift" the ball into the air. This makes you pull up at impact or flick your wrists, raising the clubhead too high.
What is the correct chipping setup? A narrow stance, about 60-70% of your weight on your front foot, the ball positioned in the middle or slightly back in your stance, and your hands pressed slightly ahead of the ball.
What club should I use? Start by mastering one club, like a Pitching Wedge. This will give you a predictable amount of flight and roll. As you improve, you can learn to use a Sand Wedge for more height or a 9-iron for more roll.

The One Concept That Explains Almost Every Bad Chip

Before we dive into specific questions, we need to understand one crucial concept: the low point of your swing.

Imagine your clubhead swinging like a pendulum. It travels down toward the ball, reaches its lowest point, and then starts swinging back up. For a solid chip shot, you want the low point of that swing to happen *just after* the golf ball.

When you do this correctly, the club strikes the ball first, then brushes the grass. This is what creates that crisp, clean contact you see from good players.

Chunked Chip: Your low point is *behind* the ball. The club hits the ground first, digs in, and loses all its energy.
Thinned Chip: Your low point is *behind* the ball, but on the way up, you catch the middle of the ball with the leading edge.

Nearly every common chipping mistake is a result of mismanaging this low point. And the cause is almost always the same: a well-intentioned but misguided attempt to "help" or "lift" the ball into the air.

Your only job is to return the club to the ball. The loft on the clubface will do the lifting for you. Once you accept that, everything gets easier.

Common Question #1: "Why Do I Always Chunk My Chips?"

The chunk. The chili-dip. The fat shot. Whatever you call it, it's the most common and demoralizing shot for beginners around the green.

The Issue: You swing, a huge patch of turf flies farther than the ball, and the ball itself dribbles a few feet in front of you.

The Simple Cause: As we just discussed, your swing's low point is behind the ball. This happens for two main reasons:

Your weight is on your back foot at impact.
You are "casting" or "scooping" with your wrists, trying to flick the ball up.

When your weight hangs back, the center of your swing arc hangs back with it. When you add a wristy scoop, you're guaranteeing the club will hit the ground first.

The Simple Fix: The "Forward Everything" Setup

To fix the chunk, we need to build a setup that *pre-sets* a correct low point. If you set up correctly, a solid strike becomes almost automatic.

Narrow Your Stance: Place your feet close together, maybe just a clubhead's width apart. This makes it harder to sway back and forth.
Position the Ball: Place the ball in the middle of your narrow stance. For some, moving it back just a touch (towards your back foot) can help even more.
Lean Forward: This is the most important part. Lean your weight onto your front foot. You should feel about 60-70% of your pressure on that lead leg. And it must *stay there* throughout the entire chipping motion.
Press Your Hands Forward: Let your arms hang naturally, and then press your hands slightly forward so they are ahead of the clubhead. The butt end of the club should point toward the inside of your lead thigh.

This "Forward Everything" setup moves the bottom of your swing arc ahead of the ball. From here, all you have to do is make a simple rocking motion with your shoulders. The setup has already done the hard work for you.

Common Question #2: "Why Do I Skull My Chips Across the Green?"

The only thing that might feel worse than a chunk is the skull—the thin shot that rockets off the clubface with no spin, flies low over the green, and ends up in the one place you didn't want to be.

The Issue: The leading edge of the club strikes the ball's equator, resulting in a low, fast, and uncontrollable shot.

The Simple Cause: This is the other side of the same coin as the chunk. It comes from the same instinct to "lift" the ball. Instead of digging in behind the ball, the club comes up too early and catches the ball thin. This happens when you:

Lift your chest and head up through impact.
Flick your wrists in an attempt to scoop the ball into the air.
Keep your weight on your back foot, causing the swing to bottom out early.

The Simple Fix: The "Quiet Wrists, Turning Body" Motion

Once you have the "Forward Everything" setup dialed in, the fix for the thin shot is to control the motion itself. A chip is not a mini-wristy-flick. It's a mini-body-turn.

Form the Triangle: Think of your arms and shoulders forming a stable triangle. Your goal is to maintain that triangle throughout the chip.
Rock Your Shoulders: The chipping motion is powered by a gentle rocking of your shoulders back and through. Your chest turns away from the target on the backswing and turns toward the target on the follow-through.
Keep Your Wrists Quiet: Your wrists should remain passive. They shouldn't be stiff or locked, but they shouldn't be actively hinging or flicking at the ball. The feeling is that your hands, arms, and club move together as one unit.

By using your bigger muscles (shoulders and chest) to control the swing, you create a much more stable and repeatable motion. This prevents the wrist flick that leads to the thin shot and ensures the clubhead descends properly to strike the ball cleanly.

Common Question #3: "What Club Should I Use for Chipping?"

Walking up to the green, many beginners grab the same club every time out of habit—usually a Sand Wedge or Lob Wedge. While that's not always wrong, it's often not the easiest choice.

The Issue: Confusion over which club is best for the situation, leading to inconsistent results.

The Simple Cause: Beginners often don't understand how different clubs affect how the ball flies through the air versus how much it rolls on the ground. They see a lot of green and think they need a lot of loft to carry the ball all the way to the hole.

The Simple Fix: Master One, Then Branch Out

The goal of chipping is to get the ball rolling on the green like a putt as soon as possible. The less time the ball spends in the air, the less can go wrong.

Start with a Pitching Wedge (PW): For your practice, put the Sand Wedge away for now. The PW has less loft, which means it will produce a lower, more predictable flight and a more consistent roll. It's much more forgiving than a highly lofted wedge.
Focus on a Landing Spot: This is the secret. Don't think about the hole. Instead, pick a spot on the green just a few feet from the edge where you want the ball to *land*. Your only job is to fly the ball to that spot.
Observe the Roll: Once you can consistently land the ball on your chosen spot with your PW, watch how far it rolls out. You'll start to develop a feel for the "fly-to-roll" ratio of that club.
Branch Out: Once you're comfortable with the PW, you can start experimenting.

Need more carry and less roll (e.g., to fly over a bunker)? Try your Sand Wedge (SW).
Need less carry and more roll (e.g., a long chip across the green)? Try a 9-iron or even an 8-iron.

The principle is the same for every club: pick your landing spot and let the club's loft determine the roll.

The One Drill to Tie It All Together: The Landing-Spot Ladder Drill

This drill is designed to take the focus off the result (the hole) and put it squarely on the process (your landing spot). It's the fastest way to develop feel and distance control.

Purpose: To train your brain and body to control how far you fly the ball.

Setup:

Go to a practice chipping green.
Take three towels, headcovers, or other visible markers.
Place the first towel about 5 paces onto the green.
Place the second towel at 10 paces.
Place the third towel at 15 paces.

Execution:

Start with your Pitching Wedge and a small pile of balls.
Your only goal is to land the ball on the first towel (5 paces). Don't worry about where the ball finishes. Just focus on landing it on that first towel.
Use your "Forward Everything" setup and "Quiet Wrists, Turning Body" motion. Make a small backswing and feel the rhythm.
Hit 5-10 balls to the first towel. Notice how a small change in the length of your backswing affects how far the ball flies.
Once you feel comfortable, move to the second towel (10 paces). You'll need a slightly longer backswing. Hit 5-10 balls.
Finally, move to the third towel (15 paces).

Why It Works: This drill forces you to connect the length of your swing to a specific landing distance. It removes the anxiety of trying to hole the chip and builds the fundamental skill of distance control. After doing this drill, when you're on the course, you'll naturally start seeing the landing spot instead of just staring at the hole.

Take It to the Course

Chipping doesn't require power or athletic heroics. It requires a simple, repeatable technique.

Remember the keys:

Setup: Narrow stance, weight forward, hands forward.
Motion: Rock the shoulder triangle, keep the wrists quiet, and turn your chest.
Mindset: Pick a landing spot, not the hole.

If you find yourself struggling on the course, take a moment and run through that checklist. More often than not, your weight has probably crept back to your trail foot.

Sometimes, seeing is believing. If you've tried these tips and still can't get the feel, a second set of eyes can make all the difference. For feedback grounded in your clip, upload a clear swing video for a video-informed Chubbs AI review; to add context, start an AI coaching conversation.

Chipping is the fastest way for a beginner to lower their scores. By replacing those frustrating chunks and thins with crisp, clean chips, you'll turn doubles into bogeys and bogeys into pars. It all starts with understanding the simple cause and applying the simple fix.

For a complete overview of the fundamentals, be sure to read our parent article on chipping tips for beginners.

Chipping Tips For Beginners Common Questions — Simple Cause, Simple Drill, Better Golf