Bump-and-run shots are very common in links golf and on those courses with a lot of tightly shaved mounds, false fronts and collection areas. This can be troublesome for golfers who are not comfortable chipping with their sand wedge from tight, firm lies out of fear of chunking or blading the shot over the green. They prefer to have a little cushion under the ball.
If you’re one of these golfers, consider chipping or putting the ball from off the green with a hybrid or fairway wood. The large clubhead and relatively flat, forgiving sole should provide you with the extra cushion and margin for error you need to execute the shot with confidence. In addition, because there’s more mass behind the clubhead, the ball will come off hot and then roll like a putt when it gets on the green. The stroke is the same you’d make with your putter from the same distance.
Check out the video below for my keys to playing this fairway wood chip, your fail-safe, fear-proof solution to chipping from tight lies.
SEE VIDEO: FAIRWAY WOOD CHIP
“It didn’t take me long to realize that when traveling overseas, the sand wedge is only good for hacking it out of the fescue or hitting out of a pot bunker. [Yet] lots of times I see travelers trying to use their sand wedge in a lot of situations where they shouldn’t.
The fairways are generally so tight in links golf, that you’re better off using your hybrid or fairway wood to try and accomplish a bump-and-run shot, keeping the ball running along the ground rather than trying to loft it up in the air.
To accomplish this shot, what I like to do is take my 3-wood [I don’t carry a hybrid], choke down for more control, move the ball slightly forward in my stance and make a motion with a little more weight on my lead side, moving my arms back and through. It’s really a big putting motion. It takes some time to develop a little feel, but I promise you if you continue to incorporate this shot into your repertoire, you can become pretty good at it.
I’m going to account for the break here because this ball is going to be on the green for the majority of the shot, aim out to the left and, making my big putting motion with my fairway wood, run the ball along the ground.
So remember, when you find yourself on a tight lie, abandon the sand wedge or your lob wedge, and use your hybrid or fairway wood to get the ball closer. Try and use the same-length motion you would with your putter from the same distance.”
