The Short Golf Chip Shot - 4 Simple Tips to Improve Your Game
One of the most frustrating things that I find when playing golf is 'duffing' a short chip shot.
You might have hit a great drive or a pretty good second shot, but you've left yourself with a 40 -50 yard chip shot to the Green.
You then realise that you have to play a little half wedge shot and that's when everything goes wrong.
Because you're not playing a full shot, you get nervous over your chip shot and either chop into the ground just behind the ball and send the ball about 10 yards or you get tight and hit the ball thin, so that it shoots through the back of the Green.
All your hard work in getting there has gone to waste and you then get down on yourself for the next few shots, only making it worse.
Does that sound familiar?...
because it's certainly happened to me more times than I care to mention! My short game has always been my biggest problem in Golf, but I have found that the following 3 simple tips have helped my chipping and improved my confidence enormously...
* With your preferred wedge or short-iron, set-up with quite a narrow stance, with the ball positioned in the middle of your stance, but with most of your weight on your front foot, approximately 60 -70% and your hands in front of the ball.
* The key part of this is to keep your elbows anchored to your side as much as possible.
This will probably feel a little strange at first, but if you practice, it will stop you waving the club around and will make your stroke much more stable and reliable.
You then don't have the same leeway to get into trouble! * Take a slow, smooth, shortened backswing, keeping your arms as straight as possible and then follow through on the shot to the same length as the backswing.
Make sure that you don't cock your wrists on the takeaway, as this just brings in unnecessary complications.
* The last is really obvious, but nevertheless absolutely essential - keep your eye on the ball and don't raise your head until you have followed through.
These simple tips have seen me regularly play much better and more solid chip shots and more significantly my belief in my chipping ability has grown, so that when I have a chip shot to play, nerves no longer get the better of me.
You might have hit a great drive or a pretty good second shot, but you've left yourself with a 40 -50 yard chip shot to the Green.
You then realise that you have to play a little half wedge shot and that's when everything goes wrong.
Because you're not playing a full shot, you get nervous over your chip shot and either chop into the ground just behind the ball and send the ball about 10 yards or you get tight and hit the ball thin, so that it shoots through the back of the Green.
All your hard work in getting there has gone to waste and you then get down on yourself for the next few shots, only making it worse.
Does that sound familiar?...
because it's certainly happened to me more times than I care to mention! My short game has always been my biggest problem in Golf, but I have found that the following 3 simple tips have helped my chipping and improved my confidence enormously...
* With your preferred wedge or short-iron, set-up with quite a narrow stance, with the ball positioned in the middle of your stance, but with most of your weight on your front foot, approximately 60 -70% and your hands in front of the ball.
* The key part of this is to keep your elbows anchored to your side as much as possible.
This will probably feel a little strange at first, but if you practice, it will stop you waving the club around and will make your stroke much more stable and reliable.
You then don't have the same leeway to get into trouble! * Take a slow, smooth, shortened backswing, keeping your arms as straight as possible and then follow through on the shot to the same length as the backswing.
Make sure that you don't cock your wrists on the takeaway, as this just brings in unnecessary complications.
* The last is really obvious, but nevertheless absolutely essential - keep your eye on the ball and don't raise your head until you have followed through.
These simple tips have seen me regularly play much better and more solid chip shots and more significantly my belief in my chipping ability has grown, so that when I have a chip shot to play, nerves no longer get the better of me.
