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On anything less than a full pitch or chip the ball has been squirting right and it's starting to get frustrating. I'm hitting all my other clubs pretty well but I've lost all confidence chipping the ball or pitching it. I'm having to flop everything and I need more vareity around the greens. I'm ready to try anything at this point.

If you are really at your wit's end, there are a few choices that come to mind.

First, use the putter. It is a much harder club to "squirt" right. Those "squirts" as you call them are most likely shanks, though it is probably worthwhile to get some impact tape and see where you really are making contact with the ball.

But, you can't shank a putter. Distance control will be difficult -- it is harder to judge how much the grass around the greens will slow the ball down. But, you won't hit it right, and you almost can't hit any of the truly awful chips with it -- no skulls across the green, no fatsies, no shanks. This is probably a "worst-case" scenario, though.

Something you may want to try before that is to try putting with a wedge. That is, take your same putting stance, same putting grip and same movements you make as with your putter, just have a wedge in your hand instead of the putter. This will produce little low-spin chips. The ball will roll out, but you'll at least get them up into the air (over the green's collar and fringe), in the right direction and with practice you can get pretty good distance control, too.

Both of these are sort of "emergency" shots. They aren't going to be pretty, but they will get the job done.

In order to fix the problem, I suggest you just practice, practice, practice. Get some foam or whiffle balls and hit them indoors. Try a few different techniques. I.e. check out some of the classic short game books to get ideas of different ways of pulling off the shots. Watson's Getting Up and Down Pelz's Short Game Bible and Utley's Art of the Short Game. Try different weight distributions (from evenly distributed to almost 100% on the front foot), maybe even different grips.

The really big thing is that a chip is in many ways just the bottom of the swing. If your regular swing is fine, your chips can and will be fine again in the future.

Throw the toe over at impact for a lower shot with less backspin. First, it sounds like you need to get a grip on your tempo and impact on these shots. Heed Bignose's advice, and try more rotation through impact to get the trajectory down.

On a related side note: Adding wrist motion in a chip can do two things. First, early wrist cock is applied to hitting a flop. It makes your pitch swing steeper and allows you to generate more clubhead speed and strike a more descending blow (more angular velocity versus linear velocity for more spin and less distance). Second, wrist rotation will deloft the club. You don't want wrist rotation on a high pitch, but rather to "hold-off" your finish to keep the blade open. If you want to hit a low runner, release the toe and strike the ball with a loft more true to the static loft of the clubhead itself.

Something else that can help is taking your attention off the ball. Rather than concentrating on hitting the ball, concentrate on an easy back and forth swing, making sure you are accelerating at impact and returning the club through the same plane you brought it back.

One thing that helped me with this was to look at the grass at the toe of the club and watch the toe of the club pass in exactly the same spot.

Two other things that can cause major problems are using your arms too much and changing your spine angle.

Your feet may be at an angle but your shoulders need to be square to the ball. Just a guess.

If it is going right, you are probably not releasing the club. Swing the club like a hockey player with your right hand at the lowest part of the grip and left hand at the top part of the grip. Then take chips or pitches and you should see results better than right.

Another thought (although you should try to minimize your thoughts) would be to swing with your body turn and arms and take your hands out of the swing. They are along for the ride.

Thanks for the above responses. I felt like I was trying to release the club and it just wasn't working. I was reading a book and the guy was talking about during the back swing to hinge your wrists earlier when pitching...WOW what a difference. Worked on it yesterday and nice pitch after nice pitch. That's the best I've ever pitched, only sent 2-3 right out of about 50-60 balls and I realized I didn't hinge my wrists correctly and the next swing was back to the nice ball flight. It's going to be a great weekend of golf now.

If I understand correctly, you were leaving the face open but now, with more wrist hinging, the face is reaching square at impact. Is that right? How does it happen? Usually it's the reverse: more hinging gives more open face! Perhaps the extra hinging forces you to concentrate on hand position at impact?

I'm a relatively new golfer playing to a 12-13 handicap with an athletic background, so I'm definitely not a swing technician yet. But, the difference in my pitch's with an early hinge of the wrists are undeniable. I was thinking that it helps me to throw the head of the club. But other than that your guess is as good as mine.