Are Chippers Legal In Golf? – Know Everything About It

If you feel frustrated with your swinging ability using your regular golf clubs, carry in the bag like wedges, 7-iron, or 8-iron for a chip shot, a golf chipper can help you eliminate this trouble face on the green. But there is a doubt that are chippers legal in golf among beginner golfers. It is more helpful for golfers struggling to get the golf ball up and down around the greens because the chipper is a particular type of club known as a beginner’s 7-iron or chipper wedge. For golfers who have less confidence to stand over the ball with their regular clubs, and chippers are outstanding for getting a successful chip shot. As it is a differently designed club, you may confuse about its legality. Here, you will get every detail of this unique chipping game called chipper because we enriched it with chipping techniques. So stay with us to get important and interesting issues about chippers in golf.

What is a Chipper?

Usually, a golf chipper is a club having a clubface similar to a putter. It has a loft angle varying from 30-37 degrees, almost identical to mid-iron, like 7-iron and 8-iron. Usually, it has a 35-inch shaft close to a putter shaft length. Its high loft and forgiving wider sole substitute for the regular sand wedge on a golfer’s club collection. It also helps avoid chipper digging with the leading edge, a common problem with a sand wedge or lob wedge. When you try to put in the green, its design gives you a better feel and more control over your swing. Its 68- 70 degree lie angle allows you to address the ball horizontally, making it easier to strike than the high-lofted sole three wedge or irons. The USGA graded it as irons because most chippers’ length ranges from 33 to 38 inches and have stainless steel shafts like putter club or lofted wedge.

Related: What is a Hybrid Golf Club?

How to use a chipper in the game of golf?

The process of using a chipper for a chip shot is more or less the same as using a putter. First, you have to hold your club’s circular grip to make a putting stroke and stand closer to get complete contact with the golf ball. At that time, you have to keep your hands more upright position than the time to get consistent communication while making a regular wedge or iron shot. This body stance helps you avoid the club’s heel from digging into the ground at swinging time. When you hit the ball from trouble conditions on chip shots, move the arms in the back and forth method and keep the lower body part firm. This body stance helps you smoothly through the ball and assists the ball airborne while running out along the greens. And you will get your expected distance chipper wedge aids in distance control.

What are the advantages of the golf chipper?

• It is perfect for high-handicapper and inexperienced golfers.
• It allows using a variety of upright lie angles on the golf greens.
• As the average chipper is shorter than the standard one, it comfortably fits almost all golfers.
• It gives fewer miss-hits than any other standard club.
• The Chipper putter allows the player to create an easier striking of the ball at impact.
• It provides a more comfortable bump and runs on fat shots.

Who should hit with a chipper?

Almost any handicapped golfer can use a standard chipper. But high handicap player who gets trouble with square strike wedge or short iron. It is a more forgiving club and the best alternative for golfers; it helps handle many demanding situations on the decent lies on the clean turf interaction. It makes the rolling of the ball up the hole, even hitting from 30-40 yards. Chipper practice is ideal for creating a bump-and-run shot. Committed golfers who like to put a high loft option on the chip shots and have reasonable control on ball release and aid in distance control are perfect for owning the chipper club.

Is a golf chipper legal?

Among the common questions of golfers, can they use chippers during tournament play or are chippers legal in golf – is one of them? As the USGA declared it a club on iron category, it is legal for any golf tournament. But one crucial thing you must keep in mind is that if you carry a legal chipper in your golf bag, you can’t pick a putter grip on the club set. Besides, it would help avoid taking any 2-sided chipper, which has a clubface on both sides of the black club head. The USGA considers the long iron as an illegal club, so you have to take the club having the length as same as a 7-iron to a putter. The player will be disqualified for a tournament if he carries a two-way golf chipper. Besides, if any member of a multi-team tournament puts a two-way chipper in the bags of golfers; the whole team will disqualify from the competition.

What is a two-way chipper, and why is it illegal?

The cavity-backed design of the 2-sided orientation chipper offers a clubface on both sides of the heavier clubhead. This approach to two-way chipper design facilitates both right and left-handed golfers, and additional alignment aids in creating a two-way chip shot as the playing situation. This black club design directly violates the rule of 4 – 1d set by the golf association’s governing body. This USGA rule clearly states that the club must have only one striking face, excluding putters with a similar clubface. Perhaps, the USGA allows a putter to have s two-sided clubface but must have less than a ten-degree loft angle. But a two-way chipper’s loft angle is more than ten degrees. Besides, this alignment system assists in getting additional advantages during competition play which is not fair for any competitive tournament. That’s why two-sided chippers are illegal for any golf tournament. However, you play in a social round with your friends and take it as a recreation; you can confidently hit the ball with the two-way chipper. But at that time of the game, you can not record your handicap score.

Can you use chippers on the PGA tour?

No professional golfers carry chippers on their PGA tour; however, it is legal for the tournament. Because festive loft designs for the mid to high handicap golfers offer less control on the ball’s spin, low-handicap or highly skilled professionals don’t get any facility on its performance. Besides, they get more control over ball flight, spin, and carry distance with their wedges or iron. They can’t bring more than 14 clubs for the tournament play, and they must sacrifice their favorite clubs to take a-handed chipper, which will not benefit the competition. That’s why pros never carry an escape chipper on their PGA tour, whether legal club.

Golf Chippers can do a lot more than just chip!

Final Verdict

If you are struggling to lower the score but become frustrated with your regular wedges on difficult shots, you can pick a 1-sided chipper to get better results. Chipping stroke also helps you to improve your confidence level and swing consistency for a short game in a golf competition. Within a few practice sessions, you will get more accuracy for the swing you create with the counterbalanced model of an affordable chipper. Besides, it is legal for golf, so you can use it without any hesitation.