While putting is the fastest way to cut strokes from your golf handicap, chipping is the best way. By honing your short game skills you can turn three shots into two. Good chipping also leaves the ball close to the hole for an easy putt. The closer you are to the hole, the more likely you are to sink the putt. In fact, where you putt from determines how well you putt.
But to be a good chipper, you need to make solid contact consistently. To guarantee that you do that, you must execute the fundamentals correctly. Below are five keys to chipping as explained in our golf tips newsletter.
- Choke down on the grip
- Play the ball back in your stance
- Make a crisp downward blow
- Keep your right wrist bent through impact
- Make a sweeping motion
Gripping down on the club provides better control. Playing the ball back in your stance encourages a crisp downward strike. And keeping your right wrist bent through impact, which help produce a downward angle of attack as well as a smooth brushing motion of the clubhead.
Practice Makes Perfect
When practicing chip shots, try combining chipping and putting, as teachers often do in golf lessons. This simulates what you do on the course. You don’t hit 15 chips in a row when playing. Instead, you chip then putt. It’s critical that you ingrain this chip/putt se-quence or you may have problems when playing. And concentrate on every chip and putt, just like you’d do during a round.
Below is a game you can play to make chipping practice more fun. There’s also a drill below that you can do, along with some golf tips, to make chipping practice more pro-ductive.
Chipping For Dollars
This chipping game probably isn’t used much in golf lessons, but it really tests your chipping and putting abilities.
Place three clubs behind and around the hole. The clubs should create an arc with the hole in the middle and in front. The clubs should be touching each other. You can vary the distance to the hole depending on how difficult you want to make it. Using any chip shot you want, chip nine balls as close to the hole as possible. After chipping the balls, remove the clubs. Every ball represents a hole. If you make your first putt on any ball that didn’t touch a club, that’s a par. If you hole out while chipping, that’s a birdie. Putt all the balls out with a two-putt maximum. If you two putt, add a stroke to your score. Also, add a stroke for any balls that touched the clubs. Keep score and challenge yourself every time you play. You can even play this goal with a friend. Lowest score wins.
Putt Until You Drop
Sinking more putts, we tell students in golf lessons, is a great way to pare your golf han-dicap. It also relieves the pressure on your other shots. Here’s a drill that will help you hole more short to medium range putts:
Go around the hole placing tees a step a part. The tees should be about four feet from the hole. Make eight stations. Place each tee about four feet from the hole. Begin anywhere you want. Try to make four putts in a row. Concentrate on alignment and speed. Every time you make four putts, start over. Don’t quit until you can make two sets of four at every station. Once you’ve conquered the four-foot range, move back a foot and do the drill again. Continue dropping back until you get to the 10-foot range.
Putting from all directions forces you to work on right-to-left and left-to-right breaks in your putting. When putting, release the club freely through impact. Also, make sure your elbows are slightly bent and your wrists solid. Maintaining these positions creates repea-tability in your stroke.
Playing games, doing drills, and reading golf tips in magazines are all great ways to im-prove your putting and chipping. They also help make practice fun. But you have to make sure you have a clear idea of what you want to accomplish before starting practice. Im-prove your chipping and putting and you’ll chop strokes off your golf handicap and build confidence in your game.