[Jason Topp]

I spent Christmas in Santa Cruz.  A friend answered my inquiry for suggestions about where to practice by recommending DeLevagua, because the course allowed chipping on its practice green - a rarity for public courses in that area.  I have seen similar restrictions on other areas of the country although they are relatively rare. 

While safety sometimes justifies such a restriction, I cannot imagine chipping causes significantly more wear on a practice green than putting. 

Am I wrong?

[jonathan_becker]

Jason,

I used to think along your lines as well.....until I saw a kid last fall hitting greenside flop shots that were leaving craters in the putting green.  When he was done, he picked up his balls and left and didn't fix any of his pitch marks.

[Bill_McBride]

I spent Christmas in Santa Cruz.  A friend answered my inquiry for suggestions about where to practice by recommending DeLevagua, because the course allowed chipping on its practice green - a rarity for public courses in that area.  I have seen similar restrictions on other areas of the country although they are relatively rare. 

While safety sometimes justifies such a restriction, I cannot imagine chipping causes significantly more wear on a practice green than putting. 

Am I wrong?

Are you talking about chipping TO the practice putting green, or ON the green?  i.e. chipping as in over the bunker of #6 at Riviera.

I guess pitching to a practice putting green could put little mini ball marks on it, depending on distance, where chips shouldn't cause any damage.  I think most clubs - including mine - restrict chipping to avoid over-enthusiastic shots, how can they draw the line.

[archie_struthers]

 

Chipping ok    pitching ....flopping should be verboten

[Anthony_Nysse]

Chipping is for chipping greens and putting is for putting greens.

[Jason Topp]

Are you talking about chipping TO the practice putting green, or ON the green?  i.e. chipping as in over the bunker of #6 at Riviera.
[/quote]

to the putting green

[Jason Topp]

Chipping is for chipping greens and putting is for putting greens.

Do putting greens really get beat up by greenside chips?  I understand Bill's concern about over enthusiastic flop shots but I have rarely encountered a putting green that allows chipping to be in significantly worse condition than putting greens.  For me as a customer, the ability to hit chip shots (which often need work) outweighs any reduced quality of the putting green surface.

[John Moore II]

Well, chipping alone would not be much of a problem, but how do you determine when a chip becomes a pitch? And pitches can damage the green. Lob shots can certainly damage the green. It can also cause damage to the fringe if people stand out there and chip for a long time. That also has to be considered. A lot of places that do that have a separate chipping green.

[Paul Jones]

I figured that chipping wasn't allowed because too many people will try the Phil Flop Shop and blade it - not too mention that people do not want to put where others are chipping/spraying the ball.

[Carl Nichols]

If you've seen my short game, you'd say yes, it's necessary!

[Greg Chambers]

Wouldn't a simple sign like this get 99% of the job done:

We encourage practice chipping to this green, but:

-- use caution and common sense

-- no divots allowed

-- keep all shots low (no shots rising above knee-high)

-- no high-sticking (keep your club below waist-high at all times).

problem is, 99% of all golfers leave their common sense in the parking lot

[Rick Sides]

We have a chipping area at my club and one thing that drives me nuts is the amount of people who after chipping balls, take their wedge and hit the balls off the green!  They don't realize how they mess the green up by doing such a careless act.

[John Moore II]

Wouldn't a simple sign like this get 99% of the job done:

We encourage practice chipping to this green, but:

-- use caution and common sense

-- no divots allowed

-- keep all shots low (no shots rising above knee-high)

-- no high-sticking (keep your club below waist-high at all times).

problem is, 99% of all golfers leave their common sense in the parking lot

My thoughts exactly. I've seen too many seemingly intelligent people turn very stupid on golf courses. Common sense just isn't much of a common virtue in many people.

[Tim Nugent]

We had a safety issue because other players are concentrating on their putting and are open season for errant/skulled/bladed/shanked chips.  To mitigate thesafety aspect, we would paint al line abourt 3' off the collar from within players could chip.  Outside the line was forbidden.  We had a short game area for those wanting to practice longer shots.   Because there was the short game option, the golfers would follow the rules. But, I fear that, without that option, it would require a lot of policing.

[John Moore II]

I remember at PGA Learning Center, they had 3 putting greens, a chipping green and a pitching green. The pitching green was made on such an angle that you were not ever hitting the ball towards other golfers. With the chipping green, staff members would tell people if they were hitting shots that were not within safety ranges. I did know a guy who would routinely hit flop shots on the chipping green, but he had been a teacher for Dave Pelz for 12 years, so he was pretty damn good with a wedge. That would be a good set-up to have at a course if you had the funds and area to allow for it.

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