Chip it close

Chipping and putting account for well over 50% of the strokes taken in the average round of golf, yet the amount of practice devoted to these phases of the game is very small. If the average golfer would spend 30 minutes a week practicing their chipping and putting, they would see great improvement in both of these aspects of their game. In this article I am going to talk about some of the fundamentals of the chip shot.

When I have played with golfers who have trouble chipping the golf ball, the two biggest problems they have are hitting the ball thin or hitting the ball fat. When you hit the ball thin, the bottom of your club hits the ball too close to the center of the golf ball. This will cause the ball to fly too low and will usually mean you have hit the ball over the green. When you hit the ball fat, the bottom of your club hits the ground before it gets to the ball, which will keep the ball from flying very far. This will almost always cause you to come up short of the green. So, what causes a golfer to hit the ball thin or fat.

There may be several swing flaws that cause a golfer to hit the ball thin or fat, but I believe most, if not all, of these swing flaws came be traced back to one major fault: club deceleration. To hit any golf shot consistently, whether it's the driver, the putter, or any club in between, you must accelerate the club through impact.

In this article, I am talking exclusively about the chip shot, but the same principle is true for any golf shot. Most golfers don't have a problem accelerating the club on full shots, but when they have those "less than full" shots is where they have problems.

The main cause for golfers decelerating their swing is they take the club back too far and then they try to swing easy to get the proper distance on the shot. To me, this is like having a two foot putt and taking the putter back far enough to hit a twenty foot putt. It doesn't work very well.

The key is to take the club back far enough that you can accelerate smoothly through the ball and hit the ball the proper distance. The only way to know how far to take the club back to hit the ball a specific distance is to practice. Go to the practice putting green at your local golf course and practice chipping from several different distances.

Before you start to practice, there are a few basic fundamentals you should work on that will also help you become a consistent chipper. The first thing I would suggest is to grip down on the club to where your right hand, if you're a right handed golfer, is almost on the steel of the shaft. This will give you more control. Second, keep your feet closer together than normal and open your stance slightly so your body is facing more toward the hole. This will keep the left side of your body out of the way to allow you to swing the club more freely toward your target. Third, place the ball toward your back foot and lean the handle of the club toward your left side. This will help you hit the ball with a descending blow, which is critical to hitting the ball crisply. Hitting the ball crisply is critical in any golf shot, but none more important than a chip shot.

After you feel comfortable with these fundamentals, you're ready to begin your practice session.

Start by placing 4 or 5 balls about 5 feet off the putting surface. Chip to a hole that is 20 or 30 feet onto the green. Using a sand wedge, take your club back 18 inches and smoothly accelerate through the ball and see how far it goes. If the ball doesn't get to the hole, try it again taking the club back 24 inches. If the ball went past the hole, try it again taking the club back 15 inches. Once you have a feel for how far back to take the sand wedge to hit it the proper distance, try it again with a pitching wedge, 9-iron, and 8-iron until you have a feel for these clubs as well.

Now chip to a hole that is 50 or 60 feet onto the green and repeat the process I described above. Once you have tried several shots from this distance, move to where you are chipping from 10 feet off the green and repeat the process, chipping to both pin locations you used before. Repeat this process from several distances to several pin locations.

You will find that when you are chipping from 10 feet or more off the green, you will usually chip better with a more lofted club, such as a sand wedge. If you are chipping from 4 or 5 feet off the green, you will usually chip better with a less lofted club, such as an 8-iron.

The point is, there is not one club that is perfect for all the different chip shots you will face during a round of golf. Practice using different lofted clubs in different situations and you will find what works best for you.