One-Club Chipping Ladder
Learn to vary carry distance with a single wedge by changing only your stroke length, so you can handle any greenside distance without swapping clubs. This builds the touch that separates getting up-and-down from leaving yourself a long putt.
Setup
Stand just off the green with one wedge and a small bucket of balls. Pick three targets at increasing distances onto the green — say a near, middle, and far flag or marker. No alignment aids needed.
Step by step
- Keep the same setup and tempo for every shot — ball back of center, weight forward, quiet wrists.
- Chip to the near target using a short stroke roughly hip-to-knee height.
- Without changing clubs, lengthen the stroke slightly to reach the middle target, then again for the far target.
- Memorize the feel and length of backswing for each distance — that's your built-in 'gears' for that wedge.
- Mix the order up: near, far, middle, near. Randomizing forces you to feel each distance fresh, the way you must on the course.
Reps / time
3–4 trips through all three distances, about 20 chips. Around 12 minutes.
Coaching cue
Common mistake: changing your swing speed or adding a wristy 'hit' to reach the farther targets, which destroys consistency of contact. Instead, keep tempo identical and let a longer, smoother backswing produce more carry — distance comes from stroke length, not effort. Same rhythm, different size.
A beginner refresher only — not professional instruction.