Chipping ,Pitching and Putting.

Today Akbar took me through the rigmarole of Pitching and Chipping. we went to the green beside Nikhil's workshop and there at the Practice Green, he gave me an hour of basic classes on Pitching and Chipping. I will begin what he called Rolling as we are on the green but slightly rough and not the actual roughness. The Clubs used are 7 Iron or above. This all depends on what distance you would like to achieve with the stroke. 

Rolling

The club face is placed behind the ball and is kept more or less closed. This means that there should be no loft on the ball. The body is slightly angled away from the target. The club is held close to the left leg and held lower down so that there is more control on the club. The elbows are stiff and the whole upper body is moved to start the swing. The swing now  strikes the ball and moves on slightly more distance than what was started.

The ball now hit firmly rolls towards the hole and enters the hole.

Pitching

Here the only difference is that the club is held higher on the shaft and the legs are slightly wider than the stance for the Rolling, but not as much as the Iron driving. We now start the swing :-

• The hands are stiff and Club raised above the right knee.
• The stroke is completed which will loft the ball up and take it to the green.
• Concentrate on the distance and the Flag to ensure that the ball lands close to the hole.

Putting

Grip

The Grip here is different, we will have to take your Putter and place it on the left hands life line on the palm and wrap your fingers around it. The Right hand is placed below the left hand and slowly moved up to cover the left hand. The putter is also aligned along the centre of the palm of the Right hand. The fore finger of the left hand cover the fingers of the right hand.

Stroke

Keep the elbows touching your stomach so that there is not much movement from there. The whole upper shoulder swivels and strikes the ball cleanly. Sloping of the green is important to understand the way the ball will play.


Learnt a new trick at the Trivandrum Golf Club, I was asked by both the Caddie Master and a Caddie to play a 2X2 or a 1X1. This I had deduced to be a two feet by two feet swing or a one foot by one foot swing. Of course the distance here is the distance the Golf Club will have to move from the lie of the ball.