“Necessity is the Mother of Invention” – Innovative Chipping

by Doc Hox

In Part One of this series, we reviewed how innovative putting strokes evolved from the inventiveness of tour players who faced necessary change due to either their own special conditions or to USGA rulings. Sam Snead’s sidesaddle stroke and Charlie Owen’s development of the long putter, given his injury as a paratrooper, are notable examples resulting in Senior PGA Tour tournament wins for each. Golfers impacted by the May 2013 USGA ruling can benefit from special putters for “non-anchored” sidesaddle putting and long putting designed and built by innovators like Arizona Golf Resort Head Pro Brad Butler and North Carolina’s Patrice Dionne.

Many golfers find that traditional chipping methods are difficult to master or their own mechanical tendencies compromise the traditional chipping stroke. These golfers, including some PGA Tour players, have adopted alternative approaches to chipping as many have done with putting.

At one time, a cross-handed or “left hand low” (for right handers) putting grip was viewed as a last ditch resort. In the 1977 PGA Tour Tucson Open tournament, young winless Bruce Lietzke was in a playoff with the legendary Gene Littler. The television commentator, a respected major tournament winner in his own right, lamented that Lietzke had virtually no chance as he was putting with a “give up grip” – that being a cross-handed or left hand low grip. Seconds later, Lietzke dropped a bomb of a long putt to beat Littler.  Today, cross-handed putting is commonplace and cross-handed chipping has emerged.

For many golfers, a traditional grip results in the trail hand overpowering the lead hand resulting in either fat or thin chip shots. What could have been an “up and down” par resulting from an accurate chip becomes a bogey or double bogey as yet another chip shot is usually required as a consequence from the initial ineffective stroke. Cross-handed chipping enables the lead hand to be in greater control and mitigate the trail hand (right hand for right handers) from overpowering the stroke. GolfTEC Chandler (AZ) owner and teacher Thomas Gibbs teaches cross-handed chipping to those who already putt cross-handed, as “it’s a natural extension of what they already do”. The result is crisper contact and more controllable distance for the chip shot.

For golfers who “face the hole” and putt sidesaddle, they can now apply that technique to chipping and even pitching thanks to Patrice Dionne. Dionne has invented a USGA conforming 37” chipping club (43° loft, 79° lie angle). YouTube has video demonstrations of Dionne using the wedge for sidesaddle chipping and pitching from 1-20+ yards. Watching Dionne demonstrate this technique brings to mind the likely fascination first-time observers must have had in watching Dick Fosbury high jump using his “Fosbury Flop”. See http://www.face-on-putting.com for more information on the sidesaddle chipping technique and club.

Now retired in Tampa, Florida, former Senior PGA Tour player Charlie Owens (two wins, 8th on the money list in 1986) has a sense of satisfaction from two of his contributions to golf. Adam Scott won the 2013 Master’s Tournament using a long putter that Owens pioneered on the Senior Tour. Chris Couch chipped in on the final hole to win the 2006 PGA Tour Zurich Classic of New Orleans using a cross-handed technique that Owens employed for all of his golf strokes. Necessity was indeed the mother of invention for injured paratrooper Charlie Owens, as it was for Sam Snead. Their inventiveness can inspire new possibilities within each one of us and bring greater joy to playing the game.

Doc Hox (aka Doug Hoxeng, Ph.D.) is a consultant and writer.