10 Best Chipping Drills to Practice
Here are 10 unique chipping drills you won’t find on most golf websites. These are custom designed drills from Nick Foy Golf and FoyGolfAcademy.com
These really challenge you to improve at chipping and they’ll test your distance control with your wedges so you can learn how far you typically leave the golf ball from the hole. In other words, your average putting distance you have left to finish your par and make a successful up and down.
Let’s try hard to track stats and keep repeating these drills each week or month so you can track improvement over time.
Here are the 10 best chipping drills you will want to add to your practice routine to quickly improve your short game!
Average Distance from the Hole Chipping Drill
In this chipping drill, the goal is to calculate your average distance you have left to the hole after hitting chip shots. Over time, you can repeat this chipping drill and see your average proximity to the hole decrease as you get better at chipping.
There’s a big correlation in scoring lower golf scores the closer you get to the hole with your chip shots inside of 10 feet. The make percentage on putting goes way up every foot closer to the hole you can get yourself on an up and down.
How to Do this Drill:
- Pick a distance to chip from, for example 10 yards (30 feet)
- Chip 11 balls to the hole
- Remove the closest 5 and furthest 5 from the hole
- The remaining golf ball is the median distance, measure how far away from the hole this golf ball is.
- Repeat this drill from 4 more locations around the green that are 30 feet away so you get a total of 55 chips after you’ve done 5 sets of 11 chips at 10 yards.
- Average the 5 median ball distances you calculated each time, to determine your average distance from the hole at 10 yards overall
- Repeat this drill at 20 yards, 30 yards, 40 yards to learn your proximity averages at different distances away from the green
Track your average distance to the hole from these different distances away from the green and try to improve them over time. Do this skill assessment drill once per week to see how you’re improving.
Total Distance Limit
In this chipping drill the goal is to set a maximum total distance from the hole for the combined distances of all your chip shots and try not exceed that number.
For example, if you want to average 6 feet or closer to the hole for your chip shots and you’re hitting 5 chips, then the total distance limit would be 30 feet (6ft x 5 chips).
Let’s assume you hit 5 chips with distances remaining to the hole of 4ft, 7ft, 2ft, 4ft, and 1ft. If we add them together, the total distance comes to 18ft which is well below the 30 foot limit, so we would pass the drill. Now we can move further away from the green and try again or we can stay at the same area but set a harder goal.
How to Do This Drill:
- Pick a hole on the green to chip to.
- Drop 5 balls in random locations around the green so that each chip is different
- Hit each chip shot as close to the hole as you can
- Measure the distance remaining to the hole after the chip comes to a stop
- Total the 5 distances of the 5 chips and if it’s less than the limit you set, you passed
- If you failed, repeat the drill until you pass
Chipping Darts
This chipping drill is a spin-off from the game of darts. You’ll create rings around a hole and score points as you get chip shots within these different rings. Bullseye would be making the chip shot into the hole and be worth the most amount of points, while not getting a chip shot inside any of the rings would be worth zero points.
How to Do This Drill:
- Create circles (rings) around the hole at 3ft, 6ft, 9ft, and 12ft.
- Go around the hole in a circle measuring off 3 feet and marking it with a ball marker to create the circle around the hole.
- Repeat at 6 feet, 9 feet, and 12 feet so you have 4 rings around the hole creating a dart board on the putting green with the hole as bullseye in the center.
- Pick 3 locations to chip from and hit chips from each location, watching where the ball ends up and calculate how many points you get
- Total the points of all 3 chips and that’s how many points you scored for this 1 turn. Then let your partner go or play your next turn if your by yourself.
- Just like with darts, you’ll subtract your total score for your recent turn from 100 and this is how many points remain. Play multiple rounds with a partner until one of your scores reaches 0 exactly.
- If you have 3 points left, for example, then chip to the 3 point ring (between 4 and 6 feet from the hole).
- If you go over the score when you have only 3 points left, such as chipping to a 4 point ring, then you must go back to 15 points remaining and go from there as a penalty. This is similar to darts, where you have to hit the exact point amount to win and can’t go over or else it resets your points remaining balance to a higher amount as penalty.
Practice Plan: How to Break 80
Scoring System for Chipping Darts
- Chipping into the hole is worth 10 points
- Chipping within 3 feet or less is worth 4 points
- Chipping within 4 feet to 6 feet is worth 3 points
- Chipping within 6 feet to 9 feet is 2 points
- Chipping within 9 feet to 12 feet is worth 1 point
Example: Let’s say in turn #1, I score 9 points. I subtract this from 100 so now I have 91 points remaining to hit 0. Then turn #2 I score 15 points. Now I have 76 points remaining. After turn 3 I have 66 points remaining. Keep going until you have 0 points remaining and you win the game. To make it harder, you must hit 0 exactly. If you have 1 points remaining, you must hit the 1 point ring around the hole. This takes distance control for your chipping to hit the right distance chip shot to score just 1 point you have remaining.
18 Holes of Par 2
Par 2 is a chipping drill where you hit a chip then go make the putt. The goal is to get up and down for par in just 2 strokes or less. If you chip it in great, and if not, at least leave yourself a short putt that you can make so you only need 2 strokes maximum (1 chip, 1 putt).
How to Do This Drill:
- Pick 18 different locations around the green to chip from
- Try your best to complete each up and down in just 2 strokes as the par
- Total your score after 18 rounds and see if you score Par 36 or less
If you make par each time (2 strokes) for all 18 holes, then your total score will be 36 which is the par score for this chipping drill.
See if you can better your score each time you practice this chipping drill and set an all time low record that you compare with your friends.
3 Clubs, 1 Landing Distance
This chipping drill will help you learn how each club chips the ball differently so you can see the difference in roll after the ball lands.
This drill will build your skills with multiple chipping clubs so you can have options and choose a club that gives you the best chance to chip the ball close to the hole for an easy 1-putt on your next shot on the green.
How to Do This Drill:
- Pick a location off the green to chip from and set down golf balls
- Walk onto the green and mark a landing spot with a tee or ball marker
- Pick 3 clubs from your bag to chip with
- Hit chip shots to the same exact distance (landing spot on the green) with each club
- Then analyze how far each ball ended up on the green to learn how each club performs in terms carry to roll ratio
- Measure the roll distance from the landing spot for each club
- Calculate the carry to roll ratio (how far it flew in the air vs how far it rolled once it landed)
Example: Let’s say I hit a chip shot 15 feet in the air to my landing spot on the green and then my ball rolled another 15 feet on the green. My carry vs roll ratio would be 50/50 for my wedge. Now if I chipped a 9 iron 15 feet to my landing spot and then it rolled 30 feet, I would have a 33% carry to 67% roll (1:2 ratio).
Chip to 1 hole with 3 Different Clubs
This drill shows you which club you’re best at chipping with currently. It’s insightful and you may find the results surprising.
The goal is to hit 3 chip shots to the same hole but each chip shot with a different club in hand. See which of the 3 balls ends up the closest and that club is the winner for that hole.
Repeat this for several different holes and see if you find a common club that continues to win the most. This will be your best club to chip with for getting close to the hole for the time being until you build skill with your other clubs and catch them up.
How to Do This Drill:
- Pick a hole on a practice green to chip to
- Hit 3 chip shots to the same hole, each with a different club so you hit 3 clubs total
- See which club was closest to the hole and mark it down as the winner
- Repeat this for 30 to 50 holes
- Add up the results to see which club won the most holes and was your most consistent club to chip with
Each new hole you chip to, switch the order of the clubs so you aren’t always using the same club to chip the first shot with. This helps get rid of errors in the results as you may hit your 2nd or 3rd chip the best each time since you’ve had a few practice reps first with other clubs.
Practice Plan: How to Break 80
Double Ring Chipping Drill
In this chipping drill, you’re going to set a 6ft diameter ring (training aid) around the hole so you can practice chipping shots within 3 feet of the hole. You’ll then set another 3ft diameter ring on the green where you want to land your chip shot.
So again, it’s called double ring chipping drill, because you’re making two target circles. One for landing the ball and one for the ball to finish inside of by the hole.
Practice hitting chips with different trajectory (high vs low flight) and landing them in the landing zone ring (3ft diameter circle) so that the ball still ends up rolling and finishing inside of the 6ft ring around the hole.
How to Do This Drill:
- Create a circle around the hole with a 6ft diameter (3ft radius)
- Create another circle with a 3ft diameter (1.5ft radius) as the landing zone ring to chip balls to
- Try to get the chip shot to land in the smaller circle and then roll so that it finishes inside the bigger circle close to the hole
- Work on different trajectory chip shots (high shots and low shots) and see which shots are needed to get the ball to finish close to the hole.
- Adjust the landing zone circle moving it further from the hole or close to the hole and see how it changes the shot type needed.
You’ll find that this drill teaches you distance control and also trajectory control as certain times will require higher flighted flop shot chips and other times will require bump and run chips to get the ball to the hole.
To be able to hit the landing spot on the green and still get the ball to the hole will eliminate certain trajectories of golf shots as they won’t work for the carry vs roll ratio required.
For example, if the landing circle is far from the hole, a flop shot won’t work anymore because it will have too much spin and not enough roll to get to the hole when the ball lands. Instead, you’ll find the low flighted, bump and run shot will get the ball to hit the landing circle and then have enough roll to make it to the hole and stop within the 6ft diameter circle around the hole.
Ladder Chipping Drill 5 Yards to 40 Yards
For this drill, the goal is to test your skills chipping in 5 yard increments from 5 yards away from the green until you’ve backed up to 40 yards from the green.
How to Do This Drill:
- Mark off 8 distances from 5 yards to 40 yards away from the greens edge, setting a cone down every 5 yards
- Pick a hole on the green and setup a 6 foot radius circle around the hole (12 foot diameter)
- Hit a chip from from the first distance (5 yards) and try to get the ball to finish within 6 feet of the hole
- If the first chip is successful, move back to the 10 yard cone and chip to within 6 feet of the hole
- Keep moving back each time your chip is successful at getting inside of the 6 foot circle
- If you fail at any chip shot, restart over back at the first distance (5 yards)
- Keep performing this drill until you pass all 8 chips in a row within 6 feet
It’s a very tough drill as it requires 8 chips in a row to make it within 6 feet of the hole. This requires consistency and gets tough as you move further away from the green. Those last few distances at 30, 35, and 40 yards away from the green will be challenging.
But if you practice this chipping drill every day, you will see huge improvement in your chipping and start making more up and downs to save par around the greens. Short game will be key to scoring lower scores.
Practice Plan: How to Break 80
Hit the Fringe 10 x 10 Pitching Drill
This is a pitching drill that tests your distance control to land pitches where you want them to land. We will use the fringe as the landing zone since it’s easy to distinguish a chip shot that hits the fringe, the rough, or the green.
How to Do This Drill:
- Mark off distances every 10 yards from 10-100 yards
- Hit 10 balls from each distance trying to hit the fringe
- Count how many out of 10 hit the fringe at each distance and record this data to improve upon in the future
Once done, you’ll have hit 100 pitch shots, 10 at each of the 10 different yardages away from the green. You’ll be able to look at the data and see how your distance control is from close range to farther away as you move back from 10 yards to 20 yards until you reach 100 yards.
If you hit the fringe 5 out of 10 times, this is 50% success from X distance. Try to beat this percentage each time so you are improving over time.
Chipping Net Variation Drill:
A variation of this chipping drill would be to purchase a chipping net training aid that you can use to pitch golf balls into. Instead of hitting the fringe, try to hit your shots so they go into the chipping net. Set the chipping net in a field, and mark off 10 yards to 100 yards away from the chipping net. Then fire away and see how many you can make into the net from various distances away.
Bunker Practice
Last but not least, work on hitting chip shots out of bunkers! Find a golf course with practice bunkers in their practice area and work on hitting out of the bunker so you feel confident during your rounds on the course.
How to Do This Drill:
- Hit 10 balls out of the bunker trying to get them within 6 feet of a hole
- Once you get 5 out of 10 or better, pick a new hole to chip to from the bunker on the practice green
- If there is only one hole on the green, create your own hole with some tees or ball markers by making a new 6 foot circle to chip within
Remember, take sand by hitting just behind the golf ball. Let the bounce of the wedge slide under the ball and get you through the sand. Don’t try to help the ball up or you may end up digging the club. Let the club glide through the sand, don’t dig.
You can draw a line a few inches behind the ball to give yourself a target line to hit with the wedge so you practice hitting behind the ball and taking some sand with the ball rather than picking it clean.
Best Practice Plans to Follow
Check out the step by step golf practice plans with drills, worksheets, stat analysis, and more plus a library full of training videos on the golf swing, chipping, and putting. Use these practice plans to lower your scores and track stats to see progress.