The Flop Shot: When It's Actually the Right Call (And When It Isn't)
The flop shot is the most spectacular short-game shot and the least necessary one most of the time. Here's how to know when you actually need it.
The flop shot — a very high, soft-landing shot that stops almost immediately — is the most visually impressive shot in the short-game arsenal, and also the most overused relative to how often it's actually the correct choice. Understanding when you genuinely need one, versus when a simpler shot would serve you better, is the real skill.
When a flop shot is genuinely necessary
You have very little green between your ball and the pin, an obstacle you must carry at short range (a bunker lip, thick rough collar), and the ball must stop almost immediately after landing. These specific conditions — not just "I'm near the green" — are what actually call for a flop shot rather than a chip or pitch.
Why it's the highest-risk short-game shot
A flop shot requires an open clubface, a steep and full swing, and confident acceleration through impact — any hesitation or deceleration (a very natural instinct given how the shot looks and feels) tends to produce a chunked or bladed result, often worse than the shot you were trying to avoid by not chipping. See our chipping fundamentals guide for the full decision tree on when a lower-risk shot solves the same problem.
The technique, briefly
Open the clubface significantly (more than a bunker shot), position the ball slightly forward in a wide stance, and make a longer, full-acceleration swing that slides the open face under the ball — similar in spirit to a bunker shot's sand-sliding action, but off firmer turf, which demands even more precise contact.
If you're unsure whether a situation calls for a flop shot, it usually doesn't. Most golfers's short-game misses come from choosing a harder shot than the situation required, not from lacking the flop shot in their bag. Build chipping and pitching fluency first — the flop shot should be a rarely-used tool, not a habit.
Practicing it safely
Practice flop shots off a clean, tight lie before attempting them from rough — the technique and margin for error change significantly with lie quality, and a flop shot from an unfamiliar lie under real course pressure is a common way to turn a routine up-and-down into a bigger number.
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