Chipping Fundamentals: Choosing the Right Shot Before You Choose the Technique

Around the green, the biggest scoring gap between good and struggling short-game players usually isn't technique — it's shot selection. Choosing the wrong type of shot for the lie and situation sets you up to fail before you've even taken the club back.

The three basic short-game shot types

The chip (or chip-and-run): a low, running shot with minimal loft, ideal when you have plenty of green to work with and no obstacle to carry. Our one chip shot guide covers the specific technique for this shot in depth — it should be your default whenever conditions allow it.

The pitch: a higher, softer-landing shot with more loft and a longer swing, used when you need to carry more distance or stop the ball more quickly than a chip allows, but don't need the extreme height of a flop shot. See our pitching fundamentals guide.

The flop shot: a very high, soft-landing shot for situations with very little green to work with or an obstacle to clear at short range. This is the least forgiving of the three and should be your last choice, not your first. See our flop shot guide for exactly when it's actually warranted.

The decision process

Ask three questions in order: Do I have enough green to work with for a running shot? Is there an obstacle (bunker, rough, severe slope) between me and the green? How much do I need the ball to stop quickly once it lands? The answers point you toward chip, pitch or flop — in that order of preference, since the chip is the most forgiving and reliable of the three.

Distance control matters more than technique perfection

Across all three shot types, distance control (leaving yourself a makeable putt) usually matters more for your score than pin-perfect technique. A technically imperfect chip that finishes three feet from the hole beats a technically perfect one that finishes twenty feet away. See our wedge distance control guide for how to build this specifically.

Practice all three, but in proportion

Since the chip-and-run should be your most common shot on the course, it deserves the most practice repetitions — a rough guide is roughly half your short-game practice time on chipping, a third on pitching, and the remainder on bunker play and the occasional flop shot.