Shaving strokes off your handicap often comes down to what you do inside 50 yards, and a reliable chipping game is your fastest ticket to lower scores. Forget complicates mechanics, consistent chipping is about a simple, repeatable setup and a pendulum-like motion that you can trust under pressure. This guide lays out a step-by-step framework to transform your chipping from a-source-of-anxiety to one of the biggest strengths in your golf game.
Before we build your new technique, let's get one thing straight: a chip is not a miniature full swing. This is the single biggest mistake amateur golfers make around the greens. They try to use their normal swing, just smaller, which leads to all sorts of inconsistency - fat shots, thin shots, and a total lack of distance control.
A chip shot is designed to be a low-trajectory shot that gets the ball on the green as quickly as possible and lets It roll out toward the hole like a putt. Think of it as a low-risk, high-reward play. It’s all about minimizing airtime and maximizing roll time. The enemy of good chipping are any excess motion -- things like wrist-hinge and trying to "help" or "lift" the ball into the air. Good chippers let the club's built-in loft do the work. They focus on making predictable, clean contact and letting the ball react like it's supposed to.
Our entire goal is a low-maintenance shot that you have full confidence in. Here we focus on how to use a single basic chipping motion, changing clubs a as needed, to control how far the ball goes. Let’s build your new, bulletproof chipping motion from the ground up.
More than 80% of chipping success is locked in before you even start the swing. If your setup is correct, a bad shot becomes very difficult to hit. A proper setup puts you in in an ideal possition - one where the only thing left to do is made a simple rocking motion your shoulders shoulders. Get these fundamentals right and you'll immediately see more consistent contact.
Forget the wide, athletic stance of a full swing. In chipping you want your feet close together, almost touching. a club-head’s with a part or two at most.Why? A narrow stance severely restricts your ability to sway your to sway you’re hips and ' lower body off the ball, which is a major a cause for hitting your chip shots fat or thin. By narrowing up You're essentially forcing your 'reEssentially forcing your swing to become a simple rotation of your chest and shoulders, removing the unruly moving parts.
This is arguably the most important element. You need to favor your lead foot (your left foot for a right-handed player) by setting about 60-70% of your bodyweight on it beforeyou do anything else, and it must feel like its there troughout the shot as well. You'll know ou 'are doing it right when your lead shoulder is located dirently pver yourlead feet, To complement your center of gravity being forawrd your hands must be also well-ahead. The butt of the club shaft should a point to your left-hip's inseamand line so you see the shaft "leaning"" angled forward towards-the-target.
Doing these two things - weight forward and hands forward - accomplishes a few critical things. It presets our a swing axis, guarantees that yourclub is to traveling downwards when it strikes a ball making solid ball-first contact almost unavoidable, and effectively it "de-lofts"- the club just an itsy bit which creates the lovely low flying running chip shot we re after. If a club'sloft had a voice it would yell thank you- so much, I dont have work sol hard anymoresince i'm hitting downthe to ball not lifting it from a round upwards.
Where should you position the golf ball in your stance? To make it easy, position the ball in the back of your stance, just inside your trail foot ankles. Similar too pushing our hands and weight foreards, this als promotes a downward strikedownwardblow to ball ensures the club's base finds the ball first, prior than turf. Think a of your sweingas circle, by putting the ball inthe back side, you're makking surethat the club is on the 'down' wardsection of theswing as it connects, instedof the' upward" portion which createsmis-hits.
By putting all those piececs ofthe puzzles together in your set up - with narow stance, wieght ahead as wellhands forwar as ball positioned back - youhave basically 'baked in' the correct imp act into thesetup. The next steps becam far easier as result from doing this.
With a solid setup established, the actual motion for reliable chipping becames surprisingly simple. Our objective is getting rid a of anyindependent hands an arm movements. Instead its all about building and mainiting a connection amongst all the body parts throughout this shot process and have this feel likes whole system is integrated together and moving in 'onepiece motion'.
Look in a mirror in your golf posture addressing the ball. You will see a distinct triangular 'shape' form betweened your two shoulders and hands position, The secret a simple chiiping lies within maintainingthat a triangle's form constant duringthe chipping stroke from takeoff and back-and even more when it’s comein' t'ru from contact witn the ball forward and to tha completion o the sho It's-a-very simpleconcept to grasponce you start seeing in thatperspective the 'motion a not somuch swing withthe club a s rocking an rotating the tringelback-forth". The hands an the wrists just goalong for a ride on the moving triangle..
Seriously, one off my the absolute bestmental cues that I gives me coachign student is that youshould chip verymuich as if you was potting, it'is theidentical motion type. just slightlarger because it s bigger tool and heavier tool tha a putter... but just imagine the same identical, pendulum rock a back and- forth through your shoulders back an thruwitnh minimum orno wrists a activity Theengine driving these chip shots ought to be small rotations from 'your torso - a slightturn ofthe 'torso chest' asyou complete the backswinnga slightturnof both through so they facethe target moreafter you finish This body-controlled action is much more reliable and easyier t reproduce consistently compairdwith any method involving any wrist manipulations on them,
From backswing length a to 'the finshed 'followthrough' you should keep thinking' symnetric, sohowever far as the golf aclub travels inthe' a backswithitit' it travrels thru 'tha a followthru'so 'the a swings are always balanced. Just a after the contact moment with that a ball. ensure your hands remain well forward ofthat a clobhead--.Resist that 'urge so powerful insideus for tryingto scoopor 'flip at tat gplfball. Keep rotating body throughan that clube 'lll stay' low as shouldbe an finish lowas wel. with the lub a head pointing directly downa t he traget linie we've choosed.
Oneofthe things that makesgolf so muchmore difficult for the a avverage 'golferis that a the try a to contrioltheir 'distanceswith different a swinglengthsi insteadofjust a swapping the club intheir hands. The beautiy in perfecting you're 'one-pieces’ chippingmotionis is can apply the very same small swngwith a range o'differentclobs 'and produca bunch predictable- distance resultseverytimes. When we have our fundamentalsetuo 'an motionsolidifieda t his step becomes theeasyest part
Here 'isa straight 'forward guideline a for whatclub t'use an' where the a chipshot comesup.
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Knowing the theory is one thing, but inget the moves and feels in your musecll meory and a make it 'second-nature, 'a you got- practice them, a with' purpose an intnetinoin Here re some simple a yetpowerfuls drilss for diallin 'in the your a' a chipping technique:
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Mastering the art of chipping isn't about some secret move, it's about committing to a simple a setpnd moian.Bykeepng you r' stancen row, 'e aning yor wei h t nd 'ands toward-a a t'ar ' t an ' by using ' y - ur bodyinstead of our a wsris s ,-you c a n develop ' - a repea' tablec ippingtrok-h at ' wll s av ' -you strok - - e s, a- and eliev pressure- a ' from ' he est o a our a game.
Somethngs re s-implifiedwi ' h personalguid nce When'yoou fnda yurslef on ourse lookin aat a complicatedliean' u c rta- nofhow t he shot 'lreact, getig naexpe t an a lysisc an mae all ' hea ' iffe renc Thisis e-xactlyw e-r o ir 'o o ls t ' a help < a href='https:ww-c diehq.om/'target="_blankk"e noopener”
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