How to Use a Chipper in Golf

Tired of stubbing, blading, or chunking those simple shots just off the green? If your confidence wavers any time you have to hit a delicate wedge, the golf chipper might just become your new best friend. This guide will walk you through exactly what a chipper is, the perfect situations to use it, and provide a clear, step-by-step process for setting up and making a simple, repeatable stroke that gets the ball on the green and rolling toward the hole.

What Exactly Is a Golf Chipper?

Think of a chipper as the perfect marriage between an 8-iron and your putter. It has the loft of a short iron (usually between 30-37 degrees, similar to a 7- or 8-iron) but is built like a putter. It has the upright lie angle and shorter shaft length of a putter, encouraging you to stand closer to the ball and use a simple, wrist-free stroke.

The entire point of the chipper is to take the complexity out of chipping. A traditional wedge shot requires precise coordination of body rotation, wrist hinge, and hand action to achieve clean contact. It’s a highly skilled motion that can easily go wrong under pressure. Players often try to "help" the ball into the air, leading to thin shots that scream across the green or fat shots that dig into the turf and go nowhere.

The chipper is designed to eliminate all of that. Its structure promotes a pendulum-like, putting-style stroke. The built-in loft does the work of getting the ball airborne just enough to clear the longer grass of the fringe or fairway, and then it gets the ball rolling on the green as quickly as possible. It turns a scary, technical shot into one that feels as simple as a long putt. For amateurs who struggle with consistency around the greens, it's a phenomenal tool for lowering scores by getting rid of those frustrating double-chips.

The Best Times to Pull Out the Chipper

Knowing when to use a specific club is just as important as knowing how to hit it. The chipper is not an all-purpose tool, but it's exceptionally brilliant in certain situations. It thrives when your path to the hole is clear of major obstacles and you just need to get the ball rolling cleanly.

Here are your go-to scenarios for pulling out the chipper:

• From the Fringe or Collar: This is the chipper’s home turf. When your ball is sitting just off the putting surface in grass that's a little too thick or unpredictable to putt through, the chipper is your best option. It will pop the ball over the longer grass and get it rolling like a true putt on the green.
• On a Tight Fairway Lie: If you're anywhere from a few feet to 40 or 50 feet off the green, and the grass is cut short like a fairway, the chipper is a fantastic play. As long as you don't have to carry a bunker or a mound, you can confidently use the chipper to send the ball hopping and rolling up to the pin.
• When the Nerves Kick In: Let’s be honest, we’ve all been there. Standing over a simple chip shot with a wedge, feeling the pressure, and terrified of messing it up. The chipper is a massive confidence booster in these moments. It’s your safety play - the club you use when your only goal is to eliminate disaster, get the ball somewhere on the green, and give yourself a chance to two-putt.

It's also important to recognize when to leave the chipper in the bag. Avoid using it from thick rough, as the club doesn't have the heavy, sharp leading edge of a wedge needed to cut through the grass. If you need to hit a high, soft-landing shot to carry a bunker or stop the ball quickly on a short-sided pin, you'll need the loft of a sand wedge or lob wedge. The chipper is made for running, not stopping.

The Step-by-Step Guide to Using a Chipper

The beauty of the chipper is in its simplicity. To use it effectively, you have to resist any urge to swing it like a normal iron and instead embrace a putting mindset. Let’s break down the technique.

1. The Grip: Think Like a Putter

How you hold the club sets the stage for the entire motion. Do not use your standard, full-swing golf grip here. Instead, adopt your putting grip. Whether you use a reverse overlap, a claw, a prayer grip, or a ten-finger grip on your putter, use that same hold on the chipper. Your hands should feel like a single, unified block.

Why a putting grip? Because a putting grip is designed to quiet the hands and wrists. A standard golf grip encourages wrist hinge, which is exactly what we want to avoid. The chipper is about a simple, rocking motion powered by the shoulders, and a putting grip makes that motion feel much more natural. Your palms will be facing each other, creating a stable unit that prevents any flippy, wristy action at impact.

2. The Setup: Borrow from Your Putting Stance

Your setup will look and feel much more like you're about to putt than hit a regular golf shot. This posture positions you to strike the ball cleanly and consistently with a small, controlled stroke.

_Here's how to get set:_

• Ball Position: Unlike a putt where the ball is more centered, you want to play the chipper off the big toe of your back foot (your right foot for a right-handed golfer). This backward ball position is fundamental. It presets a slightly descending angle of attack, making it nearly impossible to hit the shot fat and ensuring you strike the ball first before the turf.
• Stance Width: Go narrow. Your feet should be closer together than for any other shot, maybe even touching. A narrow stance restricts lower body movement and encourages your shoulders and chest to control the stroke.
• Weight Distribution: This is a big one. Lean heavily onto your front foot. You should feel about 70-80% of your pressure on your lead side (your left leg for a righty). This forward lean, combined with the back ball position, is your insurance policy for crisp, ball-first contact.
• Hand Position: With your weight forward, your hands will naturally be ahead of the clubhead. This is what you want. Your hands and the Bette-shaft should be leaning toward the target, which delofts the club slightly and promotes that trapping motion that produces a predictable roll.
• Stand Closer: Because the chipper shaft is shorter and more upright like a putter, stand closer annd taller a bit more.This stance not like u are crouching for an iron an,d gets your eyes more directly over the line, helping your aim.more over the line of the

3. The Stroke: Simple and Rocking

With your grip and setup locked in, the stroke itself is the easy part. The number one rule is: NO WRISTS. Do not break, hinge, or flip your wrists at any point in the motion. The entire stroke is a one-piece movement controlled by the rocking of your shoulders.

Imagine a triangle formed by your shoulders and arms. During the stroke, that triangle should stay perfectly intact as it rocks back and through. The motion feels exactly like a putting stroke. Your lower body stays completely quiet and your head remains still. The length of your stroke controls the distance, a small rock back and through for a short chip, and a slightly larger rock for a longer one. It’s a firm stroke - not a slow, sweeping one. Think of it less as a "swing" and more as a "strike."

Common Mistakes and How to Fix Them

Even with a simpler club, old habits can creep in. Here are the two most common faults when using a chipper and how to get back on track.

Mistake 1: Trying to "Lift" the Ball Up

This is the most frequent error, especially for golfers used to scooping their wedges. They see the loft on the chipper and subconsciously try to "help" the ball into the air, causing them to lean back, flip their wrists, and hit the shot thin or fat. Remember, the loft is already built into the club. Your job is to strike down on the ball.

The Fix: Exaggerate your setup cues. Really feel your weight on your front foot and press your hands even further ahead of the clubhead. A great drill is to set up and lift your back foot onto its toe before you even start the stroke. This forces you to keep your weight forward through impact, completely preventing any scooping motion.

Mistake 2: Using a Long, Flowing Stroke

Remember that a chipper is designed for a pop-and-run, not a big swing. Some golfers take the club back too far and swing too slowly, which disrupts the rhythm and often leads to them blazing the ball way pst the hole_a ‘decel’ hit .

The Fix: The stroke should be compact, firm, and accelerating through the ball. It’s more of a quick "pop" than a lazy swing. Focus on making the backswing and follow-through equal and short. Practice making a stroke where the anclubhead nevers goe further back then your bac foo_t, an,d the follow-throug nevers goes pthast an ur front fot. This will breed a sense of crisp, accelerated contact and give you much better distance control.

Final Thoughts

The golf chipper is a phenomenal tool for simplifying your game around the greens. By combining a putter-like setup and stroke with the loft of an iron, it takes difficult, wrist-dependent techniques out of the equation and replaces them with a reliable, repeatable motion that breeds confidence.

Mastering a club like the chipper comes from building a simple, reliable process for a tricky part of the game. Sometimes, though, you're on the course, caught between clubs, and need a second opinion on the smartest play for a funky lie. We built Caddie AI for those exact moments. You can take a quick photo of your ball's lie, tell us the situation, and get an instant recommendation on how to play the shot. It’s like having an expert caddie in your pocket, helping you make smarter decisions so you can commit to every swing with more confidence.