What's the shortest change from EDDY to WHIP?

    E D D Y
 1. E D G Y
 2. E G G Y
 3. E G G S
 4. E R G S
 5. E R R S
 6. E A R S
 7. W A R S
 8. W A R T
 9. W A I T
10. W H I T
11. W H I P

EDDY -> WHIP in 11.

It can probably be done in less... steps one through seven are rather inelegant. I think seven through eleven are pretty good, though.

EDDY is a nasty, nasty word to start with. I spent half the time just looking for EDGY to get out of it. The only other word you can get out of it with is, as far as I could determine, EDDA, which is a questionably legitimate word and goes nowhere, fast.