Golf Tip: Improve Your Chipping Quickly
By Sam Adams
This simple way to improve your chipping quickly will also help the rest of your game. The fundamentals are easy to learn because the swing is moving at a slow pace and with a heightened sense of feel which is essential to both the short game and to putting. Because things are moving at a slow motion pace, a profound knowledge of the basic fundamentals of the golf swing can be developed quickly.
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One thing I can’t overemphasize in chipping is that loft is your enemy! Never chip with wedges unless it is absolutely necessary. A slight miss with a seven or eight iron can still get you fairly close to the hole. A miss with a sand wedge will cause you to miss the green.
THE CHIPPING STROKE:
The stroke is much like a putt using mostly arms and shoulders together as a unit. The stroke is played by simply rotating or turning the shoulders back and through with the club, brushing the ground at impact. Do not move the weight off the left foot throughout the stroke. The hands and wrists should remain tension free and quiet throughout the entire stroke.
The weight stays on the left foot as the arms and shoulders swing the club away.
Your goal is to keep the ball as close to the ground as possible with the chip. Land the golf ball on the edge of the green and allow it to roll to the hole as if it were a putt. Keep in mind that the distance the ball will travel after it hits the green is a result of the length of the swing and the momentum or speed of the club head.
DRILLS FOR PRACTICING THE CHIP SHOT:
Swing the club back with the arms and shoulders, forming a triangle, and brush the grass on the down swing. The club should feel as if it is just sweeping along the top of the grass.
Set up to the ball with the right heel off the ground about 1 inch. Then make a stroke without allowing the right heel to touch the ground. Keep the left wrist firm and straight. Never let it “cup”!
The ball is back toward the right foot in the stance and the feet are close together.
The hands are well forward and the weight is on the left foot.
At impact the weight and hands are well forward and the left wrist remains flat. The left arm is extended and straight.
On the follow through, the arms and shoulders swing the club through and the left arm remains very straight. The left wrist is still flat
Letting the club head pass the hands will cause a scooping action that produces thin or sculled shots and “fat” shots.
John Jacobs, in his book “Practical Golf” sums it up this way:
"Neither a chip nor short pitch shot requires conscious body action. All you need is a smooth back and through swing with your arms, hands and club – and un-rushed, even-passed movement, in which the club face never passes the hands until the ball has been sent on its way."
In both pitching and chipping, the length of the shot is determined largely by the length of your backswing. Too short of backswing will lead you to stab quickly at the ball, but swing the club back too far and you’ll tend to slow it down before impact.
In your mental picture of the shot you will have selected a spot on the green where you want the ball to land. Take a few practice swings until you find the length that you sense will hit the ball to this spot. A few minutes practice will tell you how far the ball travels through the air for various lengths of backswing.