Chipping is probably the one aspect of the golf game that amateurs neglect to practise the most. However, it is the one area that the average amateur can get to a very high standard. No matter how often we go to the driving range, we will probably never be able to hit our long shots like the pros, and by long shots I mean anything over fifty yards. We will never have the power and consistency of a professional, who has spent years honing a repeating swing. However, with the short game we can learn some techniques, which combined with some practise, can really knock some serious numbers off our scores.
When you think about it, during the course of a round – how many greens do you miss? When I had a high handicap, I chipped from the edge of most of the greens in an average round. That’s at least twelve chips per round, sometimes more. Yet this was an area of my game I never practiced. Smart, eh?
It was during a block of lessons I was taking (a birthday present) that the pro asked me if I would like to do some short game work. I had a couple of short game lessons and he showed me a few things which helped me greatly, and after some practise, they made a huge difference to my chipping success.
Some golf clubs nowadays have dedicated short game areas, including bunkers and pitching greens. I am lucky; my club has a pretty good short game practise area. There is also a local driving range which also has an excellent short game practise facility. After my short game lessons, I started to spend more time on the short game, and less time on pounding drives at the range.
One of the chipping tips the pro game me was to keep my leading arm straight for as long as possible during the follow through for chips and short pitches. Being a right handed golfer, this means I keep my left arm straight as long as possible after the ball has left the clubface. This helps to hit the ball on target, and it also gives you a great ‘feel’ for the distance. Another thing this helps with is to ensure a consistent strike – prior to this I was finding I would hit a lot my chips fat or thin. It feels a bit awkward at first – the instinct is to bend the leading arm at the elbow after impact – but with practise it becomes second nature. And it really does help.
Another chipping tip the pro gave me was to practise chipping with different clubs. Previously, I had always chipped with the wedge, no matter the shot. He advised me that sometimes it was a better percentage shot to go with a less lofted club, like a seven iron for some chips. Practising chipping with different clubs also helps to give you a better feel around the greens.
The pro also recommended that I consider investing in a sixty degree wedge. I can honestly say that my shiny new sixty degree wedge is the best piece of golf equipment I have ever bought! He showed me how to do that thing that the pros do on TV – chip from just off the green and watch the ball visibly ‘check’ on its second or third bounce. I play the ball (you need a decent ball for this to work, I use Pro V1) from the back of my stance with the 60 degree wedge, hitting down on it, and catching it cleanly. It checks every time, and with practise, I am able to control the distance every time. Let me tell you, this tip has saved me countless shots around the greens. With this technique, one thing you do need to be careful of are bits of grass on the clubface. Make sure you give the clubface a wipe before you chip, or your ball might end up off the other side of the green…
Hopefully you will find these tips as helpful as I did, it really is amazing the number of shots you can save from your round if you have a good short game, and it isn’t really as hard to get one of those as you may think…
