Unless your long game is flawless and you can happily hit all 18 greens in regulation, you are going to be left with an approach shot of some kind. Once you have a little bit of practice at long putts, chip shots and pitch shots, you will have a whole range of shots to choose from. This choice of shot will be the key to leaving yourself a short putt!
There is a saying “Putt whenever you can, chip when you can’t putt and pitch only when you have to” which I recommend you follow. Be sure to take in as much information about the shot as possible before you jump to a decision. How long is the shot? How far is the flag onto the green? What is between you and the flag? How will the ball roll on the green? What kind of grass are you playing on? Is the ground hard or has the green just been watered? What is the wind doing? Are you playing strokeplay, matchplay or another format? What is your partner/opponent’s situation?
Ok so that’s a lot of questions to be asking yourself! So let’s look at a few examples.
1) Ball is 3 feet short of the green, and 30 feet to the cup, the fringe grass is cut short and there are no marks or obstructions. Ok I hope this one should be fairly obvious. Putt this one to give yourself the best chance of making it in 2.
2) Ball is 10 feet short of a raised green, flag is 15 feet on, no obstructions. With the green being raised I would want to pitch this shot. A 56 or 60 degree wedge. A chip or putt would be very difficult to judge the distance.
3) Ball is behind a shallow bunker, flag is at the back on the top shelf of a tiered green. This is a more difficult one to decide. At first glance the bunker would suggest a pitch shot. But the tier on the green might be just where I would land a pitch shot and would have to be judged perfectly to not roll back or shoot through the green. So I would play a chip shot with a lofted enough club to clear the bunker safely as it will be easier to roll the ball up to the flag than pitch onto the slope.
4) Ball is 4 feet off of the green, fringe is cut short, flag is 10 feet on the green and downhill, a sprinkler head is just in front of the ball. If the sprinkler head weren’t there it would be wise to putt this, but we got dealt a bad card here so that’s not an option. A chip onto a downhill green would be hard to stop by the flag, so I would play a small pitch shot and let the ball ride down the hill.
It is hard to have a clear-cut rule for what kind of shot to play, as every shot is different and that same shot will be different on another day. Experiment with different shots on the practice chipping green. Try hitting 3 different shots from the same spot and learn from your results. Try using a whole range of clubs, from hybrid to 64 degree wedge. Most of all, have fun practicing these unique shots!