Jason Day’s Go-To Chipping Game // 1 Shot, 4 Ways

Jason Day doesn’t have one of the best short games on the @PGATOUR by accident. His creativity is always on display — but imagination still takes work.

One of Jason’s favorite practice games: take four different clubs and test them from one spot around the greens. Does a 60 degree, 56 degree, pitching wedge or 8 iron work best for certain shots?

Thanks to @bridgestonegolfinc for the time with the 13-time PGA TOUR winner!

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Hey guys, it’s Jason Day and I’m here at the side of a green and I’m going to show you how to hit uh multiple different shots and the thought process going through each shot that I take. Uh firstly, I have a 60° and this is uphill to a golf green that is above uh where I’m at right now. It’s kind of like sitting a little bit back into the grain. uh it kind of goes up on top of a uh little uh hill once you get on top of the green there. So, as I’m coming into a uh a shot like this, typically I’m assessing. So, I will walk up the the green, assess what, you know, type of shot needs to happen. So, currently I have a 60°. I’ve already walked it. I know that I want to take this first, you know, 10 to 15 yards of fairway out of play. I’m going to try and elevate it a little bit more. And what I would like to do is put a little bit more spin on the ball. So, I’m going to shoot for halfway between the edge of the green and the hole, knowing that I’m going to hit it into the green. So, I’m going to try and get enough elevation there, but I’m going to sting it into that hill where it kind of gets enough spin and stops. So, once again, I’m going to I’ve already picked my spot, which is about halfway between uh the the edge and and the pin. I’m going to come in to the shot and I’m going to take a couple of practice swings just to make sure that what I’m seeing and what I’m doing, I’m trying to match the practice swing up to it as well. So once again, I’m going to test the surface, as I like to say. So, as you notice, it’s back into the grain a little bit. Uh, that’s something that I have to understand where I need to I need to hit this very, very clean. I need to pinch it a little bit more. So trying to potentially elevate it or help it up is not the play because it’s just going to hit the grain and I could potentially hit behind the ball and that’s what causes like flubs or fats and and and shots that pull up really quick. So um I’m going to take now since I know that information I’m going to take that into consideration. I might change my shot a little bit more. Um, take a couple more practice swings. Pick my shot. Visualize my shot in my head. So, that’s pretty good there. I mean, that was that was pretty nice. That’s probably rolled out five five feet or so. Um, I would say that that probably was exactly where I need to land it. Probably need to put a little bit more spin on that. So, for me, that would be a little more quicker through impact. So, what I mean by that is being able to kind of release the hands under a little bit more. I’m not saying a lot. I’m just saying enough for me to where I can put a little bit more spin on it. Um, let’s go to the 56. And I use this drill a lot. I use I call it the four club drill. So it’s usually a 60, a 56, a 52, and an eight iron. And I’ll go to locations like this, any location around the green. And I try and hit what would be the correct shot and what is and then I find out what’s the easiest shot because most amateurs get come to uh a shot like this and go, “Yep, 60 straight away.” And granted, it might be a 60. you might be the perfect uh shot for it. But I think after you play this drill where you’re hitting a 60, 56, 52, and 8 iron, you soon learn that, hey, 60 may not be the correct wedge for me always. It might be a 56 or 52 based on how you are as a chipper. So once again, I’ve already know this shot. I know that 56 is going to come out a a lot lower. So, I’m looking potentially to just land it on the green here. So, I’m landing it just over the edge there. Um, same thing. I’m going to come in, take my practice swings, how hard I need to hit it. And that one was much better. So that one went in, which was good. So looking at it now, uh 56 is obviously the right choice. Um let’s get into the 52. So the problem that I have with a 52 degree is that now I’m having to jam it into the UPS slope. I’m having to bring the fairway into consideration. And I now I have to choose how hard, what height, how firm do I need to hit it into the into the slope to create the enough bounce and force to get onto the green and start it to start to get it to roll up. So, I’m looking probably Can I walk? Yeah. I’m looking somewhere in and around this location right here. And that’s where I’m visualizing it now already. It’s going to come out pretty low and it’s I’m going to sting it. So, it’s going to probably have that one pretty big skip first. Once it lands on the green, it’s going to top spin up. So, that’s what I’m seeing. I’m going to try and do that. So, okay. I’ve picked my spot. You guys know where I’m trying to land it. Got to try and match that in my head because sometimes when you do a practice swing, it doesn’t match what you’re visualizing and then you get confused and stuck. So, okay, there we go. Nope. I’m going to do that again. That just came out a little hot, which means that I tried to overplay that shot. So, I’m going to try it again. And it’s okay to fail like that because it’s this type of shot. I would probably never hit a 52. It’ either be a 60 or 50 or 56. I’m going to try and play it again and see where it where it comes up. It’s just doing too much. So, you’re asking too much of a shot and you’re trying to overplay this shot. And that’s why I didn’t really like it. Subconsciously, I knew that I had to hit it really, really hard to get it up the hill. And I actually where I was pointing to land beforehand, I landed that second shot a little bit further and it still pulled up short. And that’s why I think subconsciously I might have jacked the first one and that’s why it went over the green. Which is a good um it’s good learning curve because that’s what you you want to do when you practice. You want to go, okay, what shot was better? Clearly, obviously the 56 is a clear winner right now with the 60 coming in second place. So that leaves me with the eight iron. Um this is a ve very tough shot to if I was like a foot or a yard or two yards off the off the green then great. Um might have been might be a better shot to play. We have quite significant fairway going up the slope here. Um, I’m trying to look at landing it probably 3/4 of the way up the hill, landing at one bounce, two bounces just off the green, and then potentially the third bounce on so it can run up the run up the green there. So, let’s see how that how that goes and then we can analyze after the fact. So, not bad. Actually, it’s other than direction, it might have been a better chip than the 60° lengthwise. So, I just the problem that I had is that when you when you’re hitting an eight iron here, you have to deal with so much more variables from a fairway, the bounce going up the hill, landing on the green on the third bounce and rolling it up. With the 60, I can land it all the way pretty much halfway u and only have to worry about like grain and rolling the the ball on the green. So 52 was probably the worst uh club that I could have picked and then I’d say 8 iron is probably the third hardest. 60° was second best and 56 was ultimately the best because of two things. Um it comes out a little bit lower. I can land it just on the on the green, two to three paces on the green. I know that the grain’s not gonna chew it and bite it up and it’s not going to pull up short. It’s actually going to get to the fairway. So, try that drill at home. You guys might enjoy the uh outcomes uh of what you could find. Um like like I said before, 60, 56, 52, and 8 iron, four balls. Just pick locations around the greens and you might find that 60 is not always the best club. Thanks, guys.