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Be A Better Chipper

Lower Your Hands On The Grip

By lowering your hands on the club we have affectively drawn our body closer to the ball, promoting a more straight back and straight through chipping motion the selected club.  This move also gives us more touch around the greens as opposed to a full length club which encourages a stronger shot with less control.  When you lower your hands, don’t hunch over to reach the golf ball, simply bend your knees while keeping your posture the same as you normally would.

Keep The Stance Narrow And Slightly Open

Most players will align their body parallel to the target line which doesn’t allow the body to rotate through the chipping motion.  Instead open your feet slightly, dropping your forward foot away from the target line.  Also, pay attention to the distance between your heels at address.  We want the heels to be relatively close to one another.  Pay little attention to the toes as they will be further apart at address, especially with the forward foot drawn back from the target line.  Keeping your heels closer to each other will create a steeper angle of attack into the back of the ball, improving contact greatly.

Weight Stays Forward And The Ball Back

Keeping your weight on the forward foot and the ball back in your stance will also encourage better contact during the chipping motion.  You should want at least seventy percent of your weight on your forward foot at address and be sure to keep this weight dispersion the same on the back swing while increasing to differential during the forward swing.  The ball position should be placed just off your back foot and directly in front of the big toe.  This set up will create a bump and run type of shot that will come out lower with a bit of run depending on the club chosen for the chip.  If you move the ball more forward in the stance be prepared to hit a softer and shorter chip.  Keeping the ball back off your back foot will encourage the desired strike for every chip and contact is of the most importance.

Club Selection

It is wise to have your go to club(s) when you are chipping during your round.  Clubs such as your Sand Wedge or maybe even a 9-iron works well for most shots around the greens.  Having the go to clubs will give you confidence around the greens which can only serve you well with lowering your scores.  Practice these go to clubs with regularity to get your distance gauged correctly and when you have mastered these clubs begin to add your other irons for chipping to create more opportunities around the greens.  Having more options will again give you a boost of confidence throughout your round, and when you miss the green you become less anxious.

Give these methods a try and just see how quickly your impact improves and your ability to save shots increases.