Simplify How You Chip for More Success Around the Greens

At major championships, the best ball strikers in the world may only hit 11 or 12 greens in regulation. When they miss greens, they lean on their wedge and putter to save par. Amazingly, a typical 5-handicap holes his/her ball from 100 yards in the same number of strokes that the average tour player holes his ball from 225 yards.

While some are inclined to point to the average tour player’s proficiency with mid/long irons in assessing the reasons for this resulting disparity in performance, I believe this existing statistic can be more aptly attributed to the average tour player’s superior short game. They’re not just a little better on/around the greens. They’re a LOT better.

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Tour players possess this seemingly effortless ability to get the ball up and in from virtually anywhere. In a modern golf era that’s dominated by indoor golf facilities, simulators, and the like, the short game has fallen by the wayside at some level. Tour players regularly play courses well north of 72-7300 yards, while your typical amateur plays courses that are no longer 64-6500 yards. Hell, the PGA of America’s club professional 36-hole Player Ability Test (PAT) is hosted at courses that measure between 63-6500 yards.

While your typical club pro’s golf game fails in measuring up to that of your typical touring pro, there are plenty of sticks at the club professional level who go low despite not moving the ball all that far. Sure, hitting the ball farther will help you play better golf. But, too many amateurs equate or associate length with ability.

Ever hear the typical weekend hacker asking the 2-handicap across the dinner table, “So, how far can you drive the ball?” Or, “How far do you hit your average drive?” One, the 2-handicapper probably doesn’t pay too much attention to how far he is off the tee. Does he care? Absolutely. But good golfers aren’t fixated on hitting the ball 290 when they may only move it 275.

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Contrary to popular belief, good players fixate on making lots of pars, avoiding the big numbers, and capitalizing on the occasional birdie opportunity. Often, good players golf their ball with a somewhat “boring” aura. In an effort to consistently remain “in the hole,” they assume less risk than people often think they do by electing to play the percentages. As Walter Hagen once said, “It only takes one great shot per hole to make par.”

With that in mind, the wedge plays an enormous role in a game that’s all about getting the ball up and down. To help get you there, let’s start by focusing on the “up” part.

If you haven’t heard this before, be sure to remember it: in order to hit consistently well-struck chip shots, you must get your weight forward! All good chippers chip with the majority of their weight on their lead foot. By placing more weight on your lead foot as opposed to your trail foot, you’re promoting more of a descending blow at/before impact.

In other words, good chippers understand what it means to hit “down” on the golf ball. You cannot be afraid of the ground. During your practice swings, pick a spot on the ground and allow the sole of your wedge to smack the ground. Too many amateurs chip with their weight too far back and, as a consequence of this, scoop the ball at impact with their trail/dominant hand.

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If you’re struggling with contact on your chips, place 60-70 percent of your weight on your lead foot when you set up to the golf ball.

Next, focus on maintaining a “quiet” lower body during your chipping motion. Because we’re only trying to move the golf ball a short distance, we don’t need much lower body movement. “Quiet knees” is a good thought to have when your green side.

Whether you’re trying to hit the shot low, medium-height, or high, your lower body should always act as a stabilizer around the green. In other words, there should be minimal knee action during a chip shot. By comparison, the full swing requires more lower body action in order to maximize distance by utilizing an adequate weight-transfer/hip-shoulder turn on the takeaway and downswing. When we’re chipping, we don’t need to transfer our weight.

We’re putting our weight forward, leaving it there, and allowing the club head to elevate on the backswing before returning it back to the ball/ground on the downswing. If you can hit the center of the clubface in a consistent fashion on your chip shots, you can be a great chipper.

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Now, in an effort to get your weight forward in order to emphasize more of a downward strike on the ball, just be mindful of shaft lean/hand position at address/impact. On chip shots, we want our hands ahead of, or closer to the target, than the ball/clubhead at address/impact.

By comparison, we want our hands to be even with the golf ball when we set up with our driver on the tee box. Unlike the sweeping, shallower angle of attack that’s best with the driver, we’re trying to trap the ball against the turf when we chip. On chips, think of making cleaner, crisper contact by remembering “ball then ground.”

If you hit a lot of chips chunky/fat, don’t shy away from the ball at impact by “guiding” the club head into the back of the ball. To be a good chipper, you cannot allow your clubhead to “die” into the back of the ball. Be aggressive with your chipping motion. Just because the clubhead isn’t traveling past waist-high on either side of our body doesn’t mean we’re not going to be aggressive at impact. Put more weight on your lead foot, quiet those knees, and make your putting stroke with a little more wrist hinge.

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Some players, such as Jason Day, employ little wrist hinge around the greens, while other players, like Scottie Scheffler, really like to feel their hands “working” on chips. Typically, the more active your hands are on such a short shot, the quicker you’re going to pick the clubhead up off the ground. Get those hands no more than a few inches ahead of the golf ball at the setup, position your weight on your lead foot, and fire away!

If you enjoy chipping with your ball positioned well-back of center like a Jordan Spieth, that’s perfectly fine. If you prefer chipping with the ball ever so slightly back of center, that’s okay too. The weaker your golf grip is, the better off you’ll be chipping off your back foot when your weight is properly positioned; further forward.

Also, players with a weaker grip also like to dig the club head more at impact. If your grip is really strong, like a Zach Johnson, you’ll be better off chipping with your weight only slightly more on your lead foot compared to your trail foot (55, 45). Just remember that chipping is not meant to be a complex motion.

Players with immensely powerful, unique full swings that utilize a lot of lower body action, like Matthew Wolff and Viktor Hovland, for example, tend to struggle with their chipping. Make sure your wedge’s grooves are clean and sparkly, hit the ball/then ground, and watch that ball check up and roll closer to the pin.

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