To chip your best, I recommend you keep things simple. By that, I mean you need to trust your instincts and stop trying to watch where the ball goes before you finish hitting it! In the sequence above, notice that through the stroke, my posture stays inverted through the shot. That’s to be desired if you want to make crisp, solid, consistent contact with the ball. Also, I like to play my chip shots with my knees flexed and my hands low and close to my body. This helps me feel as though I’m more in control of the shot. Try this the next time you chip, and keep your hands as close as possible to your legs (without actually touching them, of course).
A great way to practice your chipping is to do what I’m demonstrating in the photo above. Play the ball just off the inside of your right foot, about a grip’s length away from your body. This will help you “cover” your chip shots a little better and control your trajectory and spin.
Remember, to be a better chipper, don’t lose your spine angle before the shot is finished and stay low through the stroke. By the way, Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus both chipped this way in their prime. And, hey, if it worked for them, it certainly will work for you, too.
Pomp Braswell teaches at the Jim McLean Golf School at Sunridge Canyon GC in Fountain Hills, Arizona. To get more information, visit the school’s website at sunridgecanyongolf.com.
One of the more common flaws I see in chipping is poor weight management. Often, I see my students try to chip by emulating miniature full swings, where they shift their weight to their right side on the backswing and then over to their left on the forwardswing. Now that may be the kind of weight management you want with a full swing, but with chipping, the more stable you are at setup, impact and the finish, the more likely you’re going to make crisp, consistent contact with the golf ball.
If you artifically shift your weight back, you’ll hit the obstacle placed behind the golf ball.
To improve your chipping weight management, I recommend you keep your weight at what I call “60/40” during your chipping stroke. This means keeping 60% of your weight on your left side and 40% on your right side from start to finish. To maximize the potential of the 60/40 swing, start with the proper setup. Play the ball in the middle to middle-back of your stance, with the hands slightly in front of the golf ball. Naturally, the 60/40 swing will be a little steeper than normal, which in the case of chipping is a good thing. If you try and keep the club low to the ground, you’ll likely get caught up in the grass and hit a lot of fat and/or skulled chips. We don’t want that! Just remember, 60/40 doesn’t exactly mean placing a big majority of your weight on your left side. It just means a slight favoring of the left side. In the photos, it still looks like my weight is fairly evenly balanced, doesn’t it? If you overdo it and place too much weight on your left side, you’ll get too steep and/or you’ll inadvertently shift to your right side, again, causing all sorts of problems with consistent contact.
A great drill to practice the 60/40 swing is to take a 2×4, headcover or even a book and place it just outside your right foot in the back of your stance. Hit a few chips, and be sure you don’t hit the wood on the backswing or on the downswing. Having that obstacle not only will steepen your swing a bit, but it will force you to keep your 60/40 weight scheme throughout the stroke.
The key for better chipping is to minimize excessive weight shifting and swinging a little steeper than you’re used to. Do that, and you’ll start dialing in better chips in no time.
Frank O’Connell, PGA, teaches at Paradise Valley Golf Course in Paradise Valley, Arizona. Get more information at paradisevalleygc.com.
One of the more common putting mistakes I see from my students is a lack of acceleration through the ball. When this happens, it’s likely the hands, wrists, even the puttershaft, have lost positioning through the putting stroke, causing a lot of missed putts. Also, if you let up, decelerate or even stop at the ball (I’ve seen that, too!), you’re probably not making as many putts as you could had you accelerated through the stroke.
To help correct these problems, here’s a simple drill. Set up your putting practice station about three feet away from the hole. From here, go through your entire putting routine and get ready to make a stroke. Only now, instead of making a backstroke, then a forwardstroke, I want you to eliminate the backstroke entirely. Use a forwardstroke only and push the ball into the hole.
1 Notice the “Y” formed by my forearms and the putter. I should hold that “Y” all through the putting stroke.
2Because I have no backstroke, I’m forced to accelerate through the golf ball.
3I’ve pushed the ball, but the putter is still moving toward the target. This proves I didn’t decel during the stroke.
4 The “Y” is still present and I’ve made a good forwardstroke through the golf ball.
This exercise teaches you how to follow through and allows you to feel how the shoulders, ribs, arms and golf club maintain a consistent “Y” when swinging the putter. When pushing the ball to the target, you’ll notice whether the wrists break down due to the arms, ribs or shoulders stopping. If you break down, you’ll probably miss. But if you hold your “Y” and accelerate, you’ll start sinking those three-footers. Also, you should notice the target shoulder coming up as the arms push the putter through to the target. This is what you want.
Susie Corona, LPGA, is the director of instruction at Terravita Golf and Country Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.
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When you think about it, short shots don’t get the attention they deserve. Much has been said about hitting long drives, even making crucial four-footers. But what about the shots in between shots? The short game is arguably the easiest place on the course to save strokes and shoot lower scores. It’s also a great place to waste strokes, if you aren’t doing things properly.
Let’s take a look at some of my favorite shots from around the green to help increase your prowess from 50 yards and in. Keep in mind that the short shots are what you should probably spend most of your practice time on (we can argue whether putting requires more/less time later), and learning to be creative is key to getting up and down.
THE BASIC CHIP SHOT
You’d be surprised how many students don’t know the proper mechanics for the basic chip shot. It’s not the most complicated shot in the book, but it’s probably one of the most overlooked.
To hit a good chip shot, I encourage all my students to play the ball off the right instep and stack their left arm over their left leg. This will naturally position your weight predominantly on your left side, and also level out your shoulders a little more.
When it comes to the stroke, I actually don’t think there’s one right way to get the job done. Some are better at chipping using a body-driven stroke and quiet hands, while others are better at a more handsy motion. The key, no matter what stroke you employ, is where you are at impact. As you can see here, my impact position (third photo above) is relatively close to what I looked like at setup (even though the photo caught me slightly postimpact). With a full swing, mimicking your setup isn’t such a good idea, but with short shots, it can be really useful.
Another tip I like to give my students is to keep the left hand flat through the stroke, especially at impact. Try it yourself and keep the back of your left hand flat and firm through the stroke. See if it helps with your impact while chipping. If you tend to collapse the left hand during your chips, you’ll have a hard time staying consistent and hitting solid chips. But with a flat left hand, you’re consistency will improve almost immediately.
THE POWER FLOP SHOT
Swing down and through the shot, not up and away! Be aggressive!
Release the hands and let them retain their speed.
Don’t be afraid to engage the lower body in this shot.
If you really need to elevate the ball off the ground and get the ball in the air, follow these guidelines. First, don’t set up to the ball and then open the face! Instead, grip the wedge with an open face first, then set up to the golf ball.
Second, get aggressive! The flop shot isn’t really a finesse shot. It’s a power shot, and you have to accelerate through the stroke. So get ready to swing harder than you would when hitting a regular pitch from this distance. Third, don’t go to great lengths to try to lift the ball up into the air. To add that necessary loft, situate the clubshaft with some negative shaft lean. By that, I mean play the ball a bit forward in your stance and lean the shaft away from the intended target. From here, stay aggressive and allow the hands to release through the shot!
Another good rule of thumb for this shot is to keep your hands close to your body as you hinge, unhinge and hinge again through the followthrough. By staying close, you’ll be forced to hinge a lot quicker. That’s the trick for hitting high flop shots, folks.
DEAD-HANDS PITCH SHOT
Sometimes pitch shots that fly high and stop quickly aren’t the types of pitches you want to hit. What if you want a midheight flier that takes two hops and releases 3 to 6 feet toward the hole? For this type of result, try the dead-hands pitch shot.
To hit this shot, the critical variable is how the hands work through the stroke. In essence, the hands ought to deaden. By that, I mean the hands are merely an extension of the arms. Yes, you hinge your wrists and they release, but they do it a lot slower and later in the stroke. So, to hit this type of shot with dead hands, you have to be ready to turn more with the body through the stroke. In the photo sequence, notice how much my body has rotated through the strike. That’s what you want. Also, in the finish position, check out how low my hands are and how the shaft is practically horizontal. That’s an indicator that I’ve hit this shot by using the rotation of my body as the driving move, not the release and flick of the hands.
Try this shot on your own and imagine having dead, inactive hands. You’ll hit softer pitches that fly lower and have some release when they hit the green.
THE CUT TOSS SHOT
Set up to the left of the target, with the face square.
Hold the face square to open, and hinge the wrists.
Swing to the left along your body line through impact.
Finish low and to the left of the intended target.
One of the most practical short shots when you’re perched above the green that’s sloping away from you is the cut toss shot. It’s a shot with some added backspin to help slow down the ball when it lands on the green. To hit this shot, first weaken your left hand and get your left thumb to rest on the top of the grip. This will prevent you from closing the clubface at impact (we don’t want that here).
Second, play the ball a little forward in your stance, and open your feet to the left of the target. You want to actually swipe across the ball while the club is moving forward, and opening your stance makes this easier to do. From here, address the clubface at the target and swing along your feet line. Let the club stay open to your path (but square to the target) as you make the stroke, pinching the ball between the ball and turf. Finish the move with the hands low and to the left.
If you put those pieces together, you’ll hit a pop shot that has some slice and backspin on it. Expect the ball to check up nicely and, if anything, trickle a little to the right. Be sure to account for this when you set up, and be ready for a shot that flies a little to the right. It’s the perfect shot from above the hole.
SHORT-SIDED BUNKER SHOT
The short-sided bunker shot is one of the toughest shots in golf, even for seasoned pros, but with the right know-how, you’ll have better luck. First, because you need to get the ball airborne quickly, you need to swing with a wide-open stance and an open clubface. So set up with the face square to the target, only open your stance way to the left. The ball should be 1 to 2 inches forward of center, just ahead of where the wedge bottoms out in the sand (it’s a good idea to experiment with the correct ball position for your swing). As you swing, don’t swing the wedge toward the target! Swing to the left, hold that face open and splash that sand, meaning take about a 1- to 2-inch-deep divot underneath the golf ball.
Second, I like to think of making a V in the sand, based on how far I am from the target. If I’m close, I make a wide V, where the left line of the V is my feet line and the right line is the target line. As always, you should swing along the feet line! The farther back you go, the more narrow your V becomes.
Try this next time you’re in a bunker. By simplifying things in the sand, you’ll get a better feel for your natural bunker-shot style and start hitting better sand shots.
Hitting successful chip shots from around the green requires a few basic fundamentals to understand. I think chipping is a little like putting, in that there’s more than one right way to succeed. Some players like less hand and wrist movements, while other players like to feel some flex or play in the hands and wrists. Some like to open their stance, while others prefer a square stance. And on and on go the different ways to hit a chip, as it seems the ways to get the job done are endless.
Let the upper body rotate and the right knee move back on the backswing.
At impact, the body is square to slightly open. But what you can’t see here is I’m continually rotating.
It’s obvious my upper body is turned, but check out my right knee. Its forward position indicates some lower body movement and the proper weight shift.
That said, there happen to be two keys that I think are required to execute successful chips. The first is to understand where the majority of your weight should be during the stroke, and where the ball should be. I encourage my students to keep the majority of their weight on their left side, and play the ball in the middle-back of the stance. This ball-back/weight-forward combo does two things: It creates the necessary shaft lean toward the target, which then steepens your chipping stroke to prevent hitting the ground first before the ball. If you’re too vertical with the shaft, you run the risk of hitting fat and thin shots, more often than you would with the ball back in your stance a little bit. Second, it makes it easier to control the trajectory and roll, helping you better dial in the right stroke length and distance for each chip.
A great way to feel this for yourself is to set up, shift your weight so it’s predominantly on your left side (maybe a 65/35 split), and play the ball off your right toe. To know how far to lean the club forward, simply lay the club so the grip rests over your left thigh. That’s where you should grip the club and play the shot.
Notice how just postimpact, my hands are still leading ahead of the clubhead? It’s a lot less than at address, but they’re still slightly ahead of the clubhead. This indicates crisp ball-first contact and a controlled swing over my left side.
Forward shaft lean is a must for good chips. Use your left thigh as a guide.
Keep your weight forward as you chip. It will prevent you from hitting behind the ball.
Stack your impact! Don’t let the clubhead pass the hands through the shot.
Finish with a turned body and your weight on your left side.
The other critical component for better chipping mechanics is to remember that although the chip shot is a short one, the body should still be engaged in the shot. This means, I like to see my students rotate their body with the shot. From down the line, you can see that my upper body has rotated away from the target on the backswing, then back toward the target on the forwardswing. If I were to seize up, I run the risk of collapsing my wrists, lifting up and, likely, hitting fat and thin shots.
If you follow these two basic fundamentals, and feel as though you have a good shaft lean and rotation in your stroke, the rest is up to you! Add as much hinge to your wrist as you’d like and align your stance open or square, depending on your personal preference and what looks and feels good to you. Just remember, once you find a particular chipping style, stick with it for all your shots. The last thing you want to do is hit every chip completely differently, since it makes hitting consistent chips almost impossible. Instead, master the fundamentals and hone in on your personal style. You’ll start seeing better results in no time.
AJ Gaul, PGA, teaches at the Faldo Golf Institute at Marriott’s Shadow Ridge in Palm Desert, Calif. Visit gofaldo.com for info.
The secret to shooting lower scores isn’t hitting longer drives and hitting more greens. Sure, doing those things can lead to more birdies and pars. But to shoot really good scores, and to stay consistent, you have to keep your short game up to snuff. No matter how hard you perfect your swing, mistakes are going to happen (we’re all human), and you’re going to miss a few greens and be faced with some shots around the green. It’s here where amateurs waste a lot of strokes. So I’ve put together a handful of tips and swing thoughts that’ll help you tighten up your short game and start shooting lower scores.
Let’s get started, shall we? Class is in session!
Get Low To Shoot High
So you want to hit a high pitch or flop shot over a bunker, tree or some other obstacle? Here’s what I suggest. Think of a basketball player about to spring up for a quick rebound after a missed free throw. Have you ever seen a power forward try to jump from the upright position? Probably not. They squat down, load up power and release and extend up to jump and get that ball.
In pitching, obviously, there’s no jumping and rebounding. But a common adjustment you’ll see all of your favorite players make is getting a bit lower with the legs and handle of the club. Notice the contrast in styles between a high pitch and basic chip seen here. Adopting this setup posture, while also pulling the handle slightly away from the target with an open face, is the perfect start to a skyward launch!
Setup For Chipping Success
SETUP
IMPACT
NO! The opposite of the high shot is the low-running chip. Here your posture will be much taller with the feet narrowed to about the width of a clubhead. Although it’s commonly taught this way, getting the ball way back with the shaft leaning considerably forward can prove to be a disaster, as this alignment can produce too much dig, with the leading edge into the ground. A big no-no.
SETUP
IMPACT
YES! A ball that’s more in the center, along with a shaft that has a little forward lean, will produce much better results. Keep in mind, the bottom of your swing will occur where the buttons of your shirt are; as long as your chest is a bit forward of the ball, there’s no need to have it way back in your stance. With the shaft leaned only a bit toward the target, you’ll maintain some bounce on the sole, which allows the head to slide through the grass without the dig!
SETUP
IMPACT
TRY! Not convinced? Try this drill. Stand firmly on your left foot with your right foot drawn back and toe pointed down. All of your weight should be on your left side with the center of your chest over the front foot. Position the ball forward in line with the laces of your front shoe. Hit some chip shots from this position and you’ll quickly see that perfect contact is more a component of chest position relative to the ball, not ball position relative to the feet!
Wide And Low
If folding up creates height, then widening things out a bit will produce the opposite effects. Allow your arms to extend on both sides of your swing with minimal wrist action. You’ll create a shallower strike with less speed, thus creating a lower launch.
Fold To Flop
To hit a high pitch, or flop shot if you will, I like to think of keeping my hands and arms close to my body. Doing this means I have to allow my wrist and elbow joints to quickly fold up on both sides of the swing. As you can see in these contrasting sequences, one shot is for a low runner, while the other is for a high floater. The high shot has what I call “fold and throw.” That means, in addition to the arms and hands folding close to my torso, the clubhead is allowed to “throw” a bit past the handle into the hit, as well, as a means of creating maximum loft.
Educated Hands
Hitting creative shots around the green is a component of understanding how to control distance and trajectory for any situation. Being that wedges are designed for shotmaking versatility, this process largely involves learning how to use your hands to deliver a variety of lofts with the same club.
Here I’ve hit a flop shot, and my hands played a pivotal role in doing so. The following page shows you what hand I used to hit this shot.
Throw Vs. Drag
On the other hand (literally!), hitting high flop shots tends to be a right-hand-dominated move. To practice, grab a sand or lob wedge with just your right hand. Create a wider stance and try to hit a few flop shots. At first it’s pretty challenging, but this one drill has cured the pitching woes of some of the world’s best players. The key is to be patient and swing in rhythm. That means allowing your body turn and arm swing to work in harmony without trying to “muscle” the shot. Let gravity work in your favor, and contact will effortlessly occur. Just as the left-handed swing was dragging the handle toward the ball, the right-handed swing will actually feel as if you’re “throwing” the head past the handle through the hit. This motion produces maximum loft, sending the ball easily up and over.
Another great way to control the trajectory of your pitches, and also to gain better feel and rhythm is to hit shots swinging with only one hand. To start, let’s look at how the left hand works. A left-handed swing employs what I call “drag.” This means that the driving of the left hand forward into the strike effectively pulls the handle ahead of the clubhead. This handle-first attitude, delofts the face producing a low-running hit.
After a few practice strokes, go ahead and swing with both hands, but in your mind, still focus on feeling a left-hand-dominant movement. You’ll be surprised at how quickly your chipping will turn the corner with this one simple drill.
Bonus: Cover Your Impact Spot
In the bunker, here’s a swing thought I want you to have. The sand shot really isn’t that unlike any other shot, except for the fact that you’re hitting off the sand. It’s the only shot in golf where you’re better off hitting an inch or so behind the ball! That should make things easier, right? In a perfect world, yes, it does. But too many amateurs overcomplicate the bunker shot, thinking they have to shovel the ball out of the sand and lift it to safety. When, in reality, a bunker shot is a pretty easy one.
Try this the next time you find yourself in a greenside bunker. Pick a target about an inch behind the ball. Once you get it, ignore the golf ball completely. Don’t even look at it. Stay focused on that spot, and set up over that spot as though a golf ball was right on top of it.
Once set up, here’s all you need to do. While still focusing on that spot, I want you to swing your wedge and scoop a dollar-sized divot of sand right on top of it and try to splash that divot onto the green. So that means you need to hit it hard enough, deep enough and with enough speed in order to blast your divot out toward the hole.
Try that. Take the focus off the golf ball, since you’re not trying to make clean contact with it anyway. The goal is to hit the sand behind the ball, and let the mound of sand formed between your ball and clubface lift the ball softly into the air and up onto the green. With a few tries, I bet you’ll start swinging more confidently and aggressively in the sand, which are two keys toward becoming a better bunker player.
Jeff Ritter, PGA operates the Jeff Ritter Golf Academy at the Raven Golf Club-Phoenix, in Phoenix, Arizona. For more information, visit jeffrittergolf.com.
Without question, most amateurs make playing from the bunker more difficult than it needs to be. Put it this way: A good lie in the bunker is an easier shot than a decent lie in the deep rough. So, why all the fear and hesitation in the sand?
Simple. To hit better bunker shots, you have to make a few key adjustments to your normal golf swing. First, in a regular shot, your body weight naturally shifts from your center, to your right, and finishes on your left. With a bunker shot, there’s much less weight shifting, as your weight should start on your left, stay on your left and finish on your left!
Check out the sequence of my swing here. My shoulders are level, and my weight is predominantly placed over my left leg. Now, because of this limited weight shift, it’s important to also open my stance and align the clubface at the target (or slightly open, depending on how high I want to hit it). Once comfortable, there’s one more thing I have to do. Swing aggressively with the hands and hit the sand before the ball! A left-sided swing will naturally steepen your swing, so be sure to swing those hands through impact with a full release of the hands after impact with the sand, as I’ve done here. To practice with more active hands, I like to hit practice bunker shots with a very narrow stance, as shown in the pics above.
Allowing your hands to hinge, unhinge and hinge again not only helps prevent you from digging too much into the sand, but also helps the ball fly higher and with added spin. You don’t need to feel as though the clubface needs to stay open all the way through the shot–this is bad advice, and usually makes matters worse for amateurs. Remember, even though you’re in the sand, you still need to make a swing, not a shoveling move. Instead, swing with a steep swing from your left side and aggressively hinge, unhinge and hinge those hands. You’ll see better bunker shots in no time.
_È_Andrew Getson teaches at the Grayhawk Learning Center in Scottsdale, Ariz. For more information, visit andrewgetsongolf.com.
This is the trailing edge I’m talking about. Let that sweep underneath the ball.
If you’ve ever found yourself short-sided in the rough, as I am here, then you know you need to execute a shot that gets the ball up high and in a hurry–and lands soft. Here’s a more advanced way to play this rough flop shot.
I want to use the trailing edge of my lob wedge, so the club doesn’t dig into the turf. (If you use the leading edge, your club might stick in the turf!) It’s a bit like a bunker shot and requires a decent lie. If your ball is buried or if you have a tight lie, it’s that much more challenging to execute this shot successfully.
Note at setup how my hands are close to my body. I do this because it helps to promote a steeper swing plane. The closer my hands are to my body, the more I have to pick up the club (so much so that it approaches 90_¡). I hinge my wrists early and think “flip.” Then I return the club to impact and deliver a blow into the ball with the trailing edge and think “flip” again after impact so I unhinge my wrists, keeping them close to my body. The result will be a ball that soars high and lands soft, with very little rollout.
1My hands are behind the ball, the clubface is open, and I play the ball toward my forward foot.
2I’ve picked the club up quickly because my hands were close to my body at address.
3Look at how fast that ball shot up in the air! I really flipped my wrists on that one.
4No need for a big followthrough on such a short shot.
Andrew Getson, PGA, teaches at the Grayhawk Learning Center in Scottsdale, Ariz. For more information, visitandrewgetsongolf.com.
As you can see here, I’ve got a 40-yard bunker shot, which is arguably one of the game’s hardest tests. I’ll show you two ways to play it, depending on the kind of sand that you find in the bunker.
The first is when the sand is pretty firm. Take your most lofted wedge (in this case, I’ve chosen my 60_¡ lob wedge) and pick it clean, taking sand only after you hit the ball. To help pick it clean, I’ve moved the ball about an inch back in my stance and am placing a little more weight on my left side. This helps create a downward blow and ensures that the club bottoms out a little bit earlier than usual so I’m sure to catch the ball first. I stand tall at address and remain so through the shot.
When the sand is soft and fluffy, I use a 9-iron and play it like a standard greenside bunker shot. Place the ball a little ahead of your normal position and make a swing that catches some sand before the ball. A nice normal-length swing should do the trick.
Like all shots that you aren’t faced with very often, it’s vital to practice both of these options as much as possible. After you master them, you won’t feel as anxious when your ball lands in the kitty litter.
2. HYBRID CHIP
The hybrid chip is a shot that should be played when you’re far enough off the green that you need to hit a shot with a little extra “oomph.” If you’re pretty close to the green, I suggest a standard chip shot with either a 7- or 8-iron.
Notice how, in these photos, I’m not only about 15 feet off the green, but also below the hole? This is the perfect scenario in which to use a hybrid club, as I need to bump the shot up the hill and over quite a bit of sticky kikuyu grass.
To hit this shot, I alter my setup so I stand closer to the ball. (Notice the difference between a normal hybrid shot and the “putting stance” in the photos at far right.) Notice also how I choke down on the club? This creates a steeper swing that’s easier to control, much like a putter. I narrow my stance and play the ball slightly back toward my right foot so I make a descending blow into it. This will help pop it up onto the green.
Caution: Using a hybrid to chip can yield some pretty “hot” shots. Practice this frequently so you know exactly how hard the ball moves.
Related Video
Look, Then Chip
3.THE TEXAS WEDGE
During this year’s Open Championship, Darren Clarke played many shots with a “Texas wedge.” What’s that? Well, it’s a fancy way of saying a putter hit from off the green. But there isn’t anything fancy to hitting this shot. All you have to do is make a few minor adjustments from your regular putting setup.
The first and most important ingredient is to stand taller at address (and throughout the shot). This allows you to make a fuller swing, which you’ll need to help the ball scoot through the longer grass. (Notice how much longer my Texas wedge stroke is in the photos than my regular putting stroke.) The biggest key to pulling off this shot successfully is to know how much harder you have to hit it. There isn’t a specific formula for this, but rather a guesstimate of how much the fairway will slow down your ball. (I don’t suggest hitting this shot from the rough.) As a general rule, I add an extra three feet for every foot of fairway my ball has to cover. So, if I’m 10 feet off the green, I imagine that I have a 30-foot putt. Of course, slope will impact exactly how much harder you have to hit it.
A double overlap grill will deaden your grip action.
4.THE FLOP SHOT
To hit a flop shot, simply place about 60% of your weight on your forward foot and use a special double overlap grip (see description at right) to deaden any wrist hinge or extra hand action from your swing. This will help eliminate any extra hand action or “hit” to the shot, so the club can slide underneath the ball and you can utilize its full loft. Definitely try this a few times on the practice green before you put it in play, but by simply adjusting your grip style, you’ll execute the shot without much effort at all.
The double overlap grip: Your dominant hand’s pinkie and ring fingers should overlap your weaker hand’s index and middle fingers. Don’t interlock your fingers; just overlap them so about half of your dominant hand covers your weaker one.
5.FROM HEAVY GREENSIDE ROUGH
When you find your ball in thick greenside rough, you want to approach the shot as you would a greenside bunker shot.
All too often, I see players attempting to hit it like a typical greenside chip: weight toward the target, forward shaft lean and ball back in his or her stance. While this might work for perfect lies, it leads to stubbed chips where the club knifes into the ground and gets stuck, like in the picture at left. Instead, open your clubface and keep your hands even with the ball. This will help return your club to the ball so you use its loft and bounce to cut through the grass, but it doesn’t stick in the turf. Don’t be afraid to take a swipe at it, too. Just as with a bunker shot, you’ll need a little extra muscle, especially if the grass is thick.
A baseball grip helps generate hook spin.
6.ROLLING PITCH SHOT
To hit a low chip shot, try changing your standard interlocking or overlapping grip to a 10-finger “baseball” grip. But before you do that, make sure you set up correctly for a slightly downward blow.
Place a little more weight on your forward foot and place the ball back in your stance a bit. This should produce a forward shaft lean and de-loft the club, which will help keep the ball low. With a 10-finger grip, it’ll be easier to roll your dominant hand over your weaker hand and impart hook spin on the ball. All this contributes to make a shot with a low trajectory and lots of roll. Make sure you try this only when you’ve got plenty of green between you and the flag. Depending on how high you want the ball to go, you can choose anything between a 6-iron and a sand wedge.
7.VISUALIZE YOUR SHOT
When you play a standard chip shot–or any shot for that matter–it’s vital that you picture how your shot is going to travel toward your target.
Take the shot I have here as an example. It’s a pretty simple chip shot that I’m hitting with my 8-iron. I do all the things I’m supposed to do–play the ball back in my stance, lean the shaft toward my target and rock my shoulders and arms back and forth to create a pendulum-type motion. But in order to get the ball close, I have to picture exactly how it’s going to roll out
toward the hole. With a shot like this, I factor in slope, of course, but as a general rule, I want the ball to fly about one quarter of the way to the hole and roll the rest of the way. I don’t really concern myself with the shot’s trajectory, however. Mostly, I just envision the ball rolling, as if it was a putt that started off airborne and then quickly hit the ground. The more you think of these shots as putts, the more likely you’ll knock it stiff, time after time.
Use A Putting Grip To Make Your Chip Shots
8.THE PUTT CHIP
Here’s a chip shot that works a little bit like a putt. There are two ways to play it, depending on the shot.
Method 1: Use a putting grip on a downhill chip to help soften the blow. This takes out the urge to “hit” the shot. As a result it deadens the shot and limits roll.
Method 2: Using your putting grip on a standard chip (demonstrated at right) allows you to stand closer with a more upright shaft angle. This will help straighten out your stroke, and improve contact. In general, a putting grip puts you in more of a “make” mentality.
Zach Allen, PGA, teaches at DeBell Golf Course in Burbank, Calif. Allen has won 20 worldwide titles. Visit zachallengolf.com.
The putt-chip is a shot that I encourage all of my students to learn at our golf school. It’s easy, it’s reliable, and even the pros use it to get up and down in a hurry. By keeping the ball low, you eliminate the need to worry about how much carry you need or how much the ball will spin. Instead, you can focus on distance and direction, two keys to hitting better shots. This shot uses the same setup as most short-game shots, starting with a good golf posture and 60 percent of your weight on your left foot.
The difference from a putt is that you need to use a short iron, perhaps a 7- or 8-iron, and you’ll use your normal putting grip instead of your full swing grip. This automatically takes some of the wrist action out of the shot. With the ball positioned at about the middle of your stance, choke down on the club so that your iron feels about the same length as that of a putter. From this position, you might even see the heel of the club off the ground. This is a good thing because it helps prevent the leading edge from digging into the ground. Now you’re ready to use your normal putting stroke by dominating the motion with your shoulders rocking up and down and letting your arms, not your wrists, control the clubhead. You should see the ball come off with little trajectory, hit the green and start rolling like a putt. Now with some practice, allow the length of your swing to dictate how far the ball travels. In no time, you’ll be saving more pars with this simple, easy-to-learn shot!
Jon Paupore teaches at the Jim McLean Golf School at Red Ledges in Heber City, Utah. For information, visit redledges.com.
