The ‘Chip’ is the epitome of perfection in golf’s short game

For golfers who camped at the 18^th green during the last round of the 2019 Magical Kenya Open Golf Championship, the shot of the tournament came when Simon Ngige’s finished in style by chipping in. It was to be his last shot of the tournament. Pure style, no need for a putter.

Before he pulled off the feat, some golfers were heard whispering that by chipping he was making a mistake and should have putted instead. For most amateur golfers, that would probably have been the safest choice, since for them, the better odds of getting the ball close or even into the hole is by using a putter.

But Ngige is a Professional and plays a golf game way out of the amateur league. They would not be alone though. Even Pros putt from off the green. Tiger made the same choice on the 72nd hole, when he set a British Open record at St. Andrews in 2000.

I have seen a lot of our golfers rolling a ball with a putter from quite far on the fairway. One golfer I knew down in Msanzi, used nothing but a putter any time he was inside of fifty yards of the green.

He would mercilessly blast that ball through the fairway, fringe and any greenside rough, worm and mosquito that was in the ball's path. It was an unusual shot that sent us bawling over with laughter every time, but a scorecard does not have diagrams on it, right? We nicknamed the shot 'Butlerizing', after him.

Here is a small poll I would like you to take from among your golfing buddies: ask them which skill shot, note the word skill, gives them the biggest satisfaction on the rare occasions that they make it. 

Is it (a), a 280-yard drive that splits the fairway down the middle, (b) making a 70-foot double breaking putt, (c) holing out a pitch from 50 meters on the fairway (d) a sandy; holing a ball from a greenside bunker, or (e) making a 25-meter chip where the ball flies 10 meters over the rough, lands on the green, then rolls 15 meters into the cup?

The older experienced duffers will swear by the putt, while betting golfers will choose the sandy.  The young six-packed adrenalin-propelled flatbellies will chose the drive. Pro golfers will choose the chip.

If you analyze the level of skill and finesse required to plan and pull off these shots, you will realize that I have listed them in reverse order.

Comparatively, the drive is a matter of good swing mechanics and brute force, the pitch and sand shot require a fine touch of distance and directional control, while the sandy requires lots of luck and is almost unpredictable. The fairway hole-out or even a hole-in-one are a matter of luck.

I often hear some of the loudest shouts when a putt is holed. But, really? Putting is the easiest shot in golf; a kid who has never touched a putter can do it after a five-minute lesson. Granted, reading a double breaker and gauging the correct weight and break is no mean feat, but with a bit of luck that ball can easily drop.

Really good golfers, the ones who understand the science and art of golf and enjoy quality golf will swear by the chip. Holing a chip shot is actually predictable: it can be planned and executed to the letter.

A golfer with a solid short game pulls it off by carefully planning and executing a short low-flying shot that carries over the rough, bunker or fairway grass and onto the green, then rolls like a putt. The abbreviated swing lands the ball on a small predefined area on the green, no more than half a meter radius, at a certain approach angle and speed.

From there, the ball runs like a putt and into the hole, as if it has just been putted from that point. And even if the ball does not drop, as happens most of the time, you are left with a tap in putt.

The huge satisfaction in holing out a chip is that it is akin to killing two birds with one stone: you do not have to putt, saving yourself a shot. You will either have made a birdie or saved a crucial par. It is the ultimate ego booster.

Once the ball drops in, what follows is an upward fist punch in the air coupled with a loud, mighty shout! A regular golfing buddy’s favorite shout is, “I am invincible!”, a line borrowed from Boris in Goldeneye.  You can’t but envy the guy; holing out a chip is simply, orgasmic.

As much as chipping looks easy, it comes with a huge risk should you get it wrong. Two things are likely to go wrong. The commonest one is the chili dip, where the leading edge of the club digs into the ground behind the ball and gets snagged, slowing it down such that solid contact with the ball is not made. The ball just advances just a few inches, and you are left perplexed face. Chipping on Kikuyu grass does that.

The other common error is worse: the leading edge hits the ball at the equator, blading it across the green, locally known as kagego. That leaves you with lots of egg on your face. If there is a bunker on the other side, you are enroute to metamorphosing from Hero-to-Zero. A rarer risk is shanking.

Most of our senior golfers have mastered the easiest version of the chip, a low running ball that runs forever, popularly known as garagaria. They take their least lofted iron, a 3 or 4-iron, then simply putt the ball with it. This will only work if there is no hazard in between or obstruction in front of the green.

I absolutely love chip. To execute the basic chip, you need to do some simple class six math: figure out a suitable carry-to-roll ratio for that particular club and distance.  What this means is deciding what distance you want the ball to fly to the green, then how much it should roll the rest of the way to the hole.

Only then do you choose the club to chip with. Quite a number of golfers do the opposite: they start by choosing the club then try the club to deliver the desired result. It never does.

Various factors will determine the chosen ratio, the most important one being how far your ball is from the hole and how much green you have to work with. Two balls that are both 20 meters away from the pin, may require totally different clubs.

If one ball lies 15 meters from the edge of the green and tall rough in between, the best strategy would be to fly the ball 5 meters into the green, then let it roll the rest of the 15 meters. That works out to a 1:3 ratio and could be executed with a 9-iron.

On the other hand, if the pin is tucked close to the edge of the green but still 20 meters away such that the ratio is 3:1 ratio, a lob wedge may be necessary.

Executing these two different shots requires good knowledge of your clubs, their different lofts, and their inherent carry-to-roll ratios. What also matters is your particular swing characteristics and the speed and conditions of the green.

The rush green grass at Pebble Beach, site of this year’s US Open, will offer some nice opportunities for high-lofted chips, while at the links style British Open, ahem, the Open, at the Dunluce course in Portrush, North Ireland, a common shot will be the long-running chip that is sometimes landed off the green.

In a later article, we shall discuss the technique of playing the chip. Enjoy your golf; keep it in the short grass.