I've often found that the best club to use round the fringe is either a 5 iron or a 7 iron depending on the length of the cut.You've all had that feeling when you step up to the ball with a putter and strike it for the correct distance and line only to find it only goes half/three quarter distance?. The trick is to grip down either a 5 or seven and use a putting stroke thus slightly lifting the ball across the longer grass and letting it run to the hole. Make a very slight press forward with a seven to keep ball flight low and 8 times out of ten you'll get it to within 5ft from the hole if you judge your speed correctly!

I prefer to blade my lob wedge for short "putts" from the fringe, while using my 3 hybrid for the longer "putts." On the courses I usually play, the fringe is grainy (I compare it to velcro), and putts tend to hop a lot. Using my wedge or hybrid gives the ball overspin, and does not hop near as much. Plus you need to swing as hard as you need to with a putter.

A bladed lob wedge works perfectly when the ball is on the fringe, but up against the surrounding rough.

However, when it's simply on the fringe, and the hole is more than 10 or 15 yards away, I am much more confident chipping with one of my wedges than using my putter, and am usually a lot more accurate. I don't remember the last time I used a 5 or 7 iron to do that job. I might use a 7 iron to bump and run from a fairway just in front of the green, but never to putt. And frankly, even from a fairway, I will typically chip with one of my wedges (sometimes a 9i) depending on the lie and hole placement. I will usually only bump and run if it's uphill and I don't want the ball to check up, as it would when chipping from a tight lie with a wedge. Of course, there are exceptions to every rule.

When not too far off the putting surface, I tend to use my 8 iron with a putting grip, stance and stroke. It requires a decent lie. I also tend to make the club very upright so the heel of the club is off the ground (prevents the club from catching). When actually on the fringe I tend to use the putter.

I'm like bkuehn1952, I've used the 8 iron putt for years and depending on distance have used as low as a 5 iron, A buddy of mine has killed me for years with his God Dam 6 iron chip/putt from around the green

A very good golfer (more than one actually) once told me that I should be putting 9 times out of 10 if I'm on the fringe or the apron. The only way that I shouldn't is if there is an impediment or an obostruction of some kind that I need to hit over.

My problem is...I suck at it.

I understand the theory behind it, though, and it makes perfect sense. However, since I don't have much confidence in the shot, I will usually chip with a lower angled wedge unless I have a short green to work with. And when I say "lowered angle", I usually mean a pitching wedge or, in rare cases of a very long green, a nine iron. I don't chip with any club below my nine iron anymore.

Here is the physics behind it. After long hours of practice, I have found that I get more control going left and right with the lower lofted clubs. However, I get a LOT more distance control with the higher lofted clubs. I have found that distance is a lot harder to get accurately with any type of consistency, so I choose to use the club that is going to help that aspect of the stroke the most.

Last year, I played an entire nine hole round at a local pitch-n-putt with a seven iron. What I discovered was that my short game was horrendous. However, I sunk three chips in that nine hole round. Every single one of them hit the pin burning along and then proceeded to fall. Yes, I will sink a lot more of those chip shots with a lower iron. However, I think that the ones that burn too far past or fall too far short that end up requiring two more putts to sink will, in the long run, more than make up for the ones I actually sink. That, and the fact that using a putting stroke with an iron throws my swing all out of whack.

I often use a driver or 3-wood from the fringe, especially when the fringe is a bit high. A club with a big sole just slodes over the grass instead of digging in, which may happen when using an iron or wedge. The ball should fly just out of the fringe and roll on the green. Why would ou wnat it to fly over the green?

Use the putter 9 out of 10 times. Instead of spending alot of time practicing chipping with all of your irons and then under pressure blade it or chunk it just practice a fraction of the time with a putter. under pressure you will hit it solid and have a chance to get it down in 1 or 2 strokes not 3. I know the pros and scratch golfers chip from the fringe but unless you practice as many hours as they do why chip? Better to spend time practicing pitching it close. If you want to be a good putter pitch it to 2 feet.

rja wrote:

Use the putter 9 out of 10 times. Instead of spending alot of time practicing chipping with all of your irons and then under pressure blade it or chunk it just practice a fraction of the time with a putter. under pressure you will hit it solid and have a chance to get it down in 1 or 2 strokes not 3. I know the pros and scratch golfers chip from the fringe but unless you practice as many hours as they do why chip? Better to spend time practicing pitching it close. If you want to be a good putter pitch it to 2 feet.

Very sound advice for most of us.

I can't remember who originally said it, but I use the mantra "why pitch when you can chip, why chip when you can putt".

So, I will usually use my putter if I'm on the fringe.

Matt

rja wrote:

UI know the pros and scratch golfers chip from the fringe but unless you practice as many hours as they do why chip?

.

The pros and scratch golfers who don't have an ego about how good their chipping is will putt.

Phil Mickelson, one of the best wedge players to ever play the game, said it took him years to get over his ego on the fringe/apron and just pull out his putter.

[quote="Bryan K"]

rja wrote:

it took him years to get over his ego on the fringe/apron and just pull out his putter.

I tried that this weekend and enjoyed great scores. Just grabbed the putter.

Maybe I wasn't happy with how close I got to the pin (vs a regular putt). But on reflection, those 'bad putts' were still better than what I would have accepted as 'good chips/pitches'

[quote="rehmwa"]

Bryan K wrote:

rja wrote: it took him years to get over his ego on the fringe/apron and just pull out his putter. I tried that this weekend and enjoyed great scores. Just grabbed the putter. Maybe I wasn't happy with how close I got to the pin (vs a regular putt). But on reflection, those 'bad putts' were still better than what I would have accepted as 'good chips/pitches'

Precisely.

My wedge game is, by far, the best part of my game. I expect to go up-and-down more than half the time when I'm using a wedge within 30 yards of the hold. But if I can putt, I'll still putt. Why? Because the putter will still get it closer more often than I can get it with a wedge. Plus, there is less downside to using the putter. As confident as I am with my wedges, I still occasionally have one that just doesn't hit the ball squarely. And this happens most often on the shortest of chips where I hit the ground too soon and the ball goes nowhere. It happens extremely rarely to me. But it never happens when I use my putter.

I'm with all the putters out there. I know that my bad putt is going to be way better than my bad chip.

As Bryan will attest I usually will putt from anywhere near the green depending on the cut of the grass. Even when I chip or pitch I use a 8 or 9 iron and get the ball rolling like a putt. The only time I loft a ball is if I am forced to play over a mound, a trap or if I have short sided myself. The flop shot is beyond me so I don't even attempt it.