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Tips To Improve Your Chipping
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Weight Distribution is Vital When Chipping
One key to consistently getting the ball up and down is proper
weight distribution. Keep at least 60% of your weight on the
front foot at address (left foot for right-handed golfers).
Think of hitting slightly down and through the ball. This will
encourage a good weight transfer and, in turn, help complete
the follow-through. Keep the back of the left wrist facing the
target and don't let it break down. That's crucial. Otherwise,
your shots will break down as well! |
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Chipping from Traps
Many golfers make the sand trap shot more difficult than it
has to be. This is because they were taught that the only way
to come out of a trap is with an explosion shot, a rather unnatural
stroke for the beginner since the club head has to strike the
sand behind the ball and does not strike the ball itself.
There are a number of occasions when the lie of the ball and
the lay of the land make playing an explosion shot unnecessary
and even unwise. Whenever the bank of the trap is low and there
is enough putting surface between the trap and the hole, a golfer
would be more sensible to play a variation on a chip shot—with
the club head contacting the ball cleanly and lofting it onto
the green. Allow for some roll.
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| A chip from the sand is played the same as a chip from any other
lie, with two modifications. First, you grip the club low on the shaft,
as far down as the bottom of the leather if this is comfortable. Secondly,
glue your eyes on the left half of the ball rather than on the right
half as you do on ordinary shots. This enables you to deliver a clean,
descending blow, and that is the essence of all chip shots.
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Accuracy in Chipping
When you are playing a chip shot from off the edge of the green,
I think it is a sensible practice to visualize this kind of
stroke as a close cousin to the putting stroke. In chipping
from the apron, just as in putting, the club head should follow
a straight line from the top of the backswing through impact
with the ball and on top of the follow-through. Imagine that
your ball is lying atop a yardstick that is pointing toward
the hole. Your club head should stay directly above the yardstick
during all phases of the chip shot. Your stance will be open
with your left foot at approximately a 45-degree angle to the pin, in order to facilitate the proper movement of the club
head. This open stance and the over-the-yard-stick stroke—these
are the fundamentals that will make it easy for you to keep your chip
right on the line to the pin.
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Many golfers make the mistake on their short chips of assuming a square
stance, keeping both feet perpendicular to the line to the target.
The result is that the club head deviates from the straight line during
the swing, and an inaccurate shot is the consequence.
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