The Some-to-None Shot

I arrived early the next morning for my seven o’clock meeting, and found Jitterbug practicing chips to the makeshift short-game green. It didn’t take long to see that Jitterbug, like Smiley, possessed deft touch with a wedge in his hand. I called out, “Is that the none-to-none chip shot?”

Without looking up, Jitterbug replied, “Nope, I don’t use the none-to-none shot.”

I was confused. Had Smiley thought so much of me he’d shown me something that even Jitterbug didn’t know about? “Nah, I’d say I haven’t used that old none-to-none shot in at least forty years,” he said. “You’ll never get good chipping that way.”

“Well, then why did Smiley make me spend a whole week practicing it? Doesn’t he know what he’s talking about?”

Jitterbug smiled as he looked up to answer. “Now, hang on a minute,” he said. “I had to learn the same thing when I started. And only after I could do the none-to-none motion perfectly did Smiley teach me the ‘some-to-none’ shot. And that’s how I’ve chipped ever since.”

“What’s the ‘some’-to-none shot?”

He asked me in return, “Well, what’s the ‘none’-to-none shot?”

As much time as I’d spent practicing the none-to-none, I could tell him anything he wanted to know about it. “The none-to-none,” I said, “is a chip shot with no wrist action in the backswing and none on the way through impact. A perfectly wrist-less chipping motion.”

“If that’s true,” Jitterbug said, “what do you suppose a some-to-none is?”

I thought it through before replying, “Well, that would be some wrist action on the backswing and none on the way through.”

“That’s right! And that’s the way great chippers, including Smiley, hit their chip shots.”

He gave me a moment to think about it before continuing. “See, in order to play all the different shots around the green, you have to be able to vary how high your chip shots fly; in other words, your trajectory. But to do that, you have to learn to set your wrists a little on the backswing.”

“What do you mean, ‘set’ your wrists?”

“There’s not a whole lot to it,” Jitterbug said. “Just let your right wrist cup a little just as you change from backswing to downswing on the chip shot. Cupping your right wrist is the some part. Then, just keep the back of your right wrist cupped through impact. That’s the none part. That’s why it’s a some-to-none shot.”

“I see what you mean, but I chipped pretty well with the none-to-none.”

Jitterbug nodded. “Well, now, the none-to-none is a shot you can play when you’re within ten feet of the green and got a little room to run the ball. But what about when you’re thirty feet away and the flag is cut close to the edge of the green? You’re gonna need a little ‘some’ in your backswing to get the ball up so that it doesn’t run past the hole. Besides that, letting your right wrist cup a little on the backswing will keep your motion from feeling so stiff and rigid.”

“What about a some-to-some? Is there such thing a thing?”

Jitterbug shook his head. “You might as well forget about the some-to-some,” he said. “That’s not for you right now.”

By this time, Jitterbug had his clubs over his shoulder and was on his way to the first tee.

“That’s cool!” I said, struggling to catch up. “What other shots are you gonna teach me today?”

“Shots? You got plenty of time to think about shots. Today, we’re just playin’ golf.”