SHORT GAME SERIES
ADDRESSING A CHIP SHOT
There is often confusion between the definition of a chip shot and a pitch. The difference between a chip and a pitch is how much time the ball spends in the air and how much it rolls out. Chips will often be in close proximity of the green where the objective is to get the ball rolling out, much like a putt, and in turn reducing the time the ball spends in the air and consequently eliminating more complex factors such as spin, predicting bounce and efficiency of ball strike which helps make the shot significantly easier. However chip shots from just off the green is a critical aspect of the short game where I often see amateurs throw stokes away.
Approaching This Shot
The common problem I regularly see is poor club selection and trying to do too much with the shot. Many players are so eager to resort to their more lofted clubs such as pitching wedge, sand wedge or even lob wedge, which is understandable as these are the clubs we tend to associate and feel most comfortable with in our hands, also there is considerable doubt when most amateurs look at hitting say a 6/7iron, such as; which club should I hit? How Hard to hit it? And the usual motion of trying to scoop the ball and, say a 7 iron, the same as a wedge. But it’s important to get away from this one dimensional mentality and develop some creativity around the greens, this is something essential, especially for junior golfers, to work on. In these chipping lessons we’re going to cover everything from setting up effectively to being aware of how a variety of different clubs can produce better and more consistent results, and when and how to use certain clubs.
Addressing The Ball
Now the main objective of a chip shot is to use the loft of the club in our hands to create enough trajectory on the ball to solely carry the longer grass (fringe, rough) that is between the ball and the putting surface. This will allow us to effectively approach and read the shot just like we would a putt. So with this in mind we want to addressed to the ball as close to a putting set-up as we can. Just like the set-up discussed in the PREVIOUS lesson were going to grip the club with the handle much more in the crease of the palm, as discussed in the putting lesson there are many forms of grip that we see people play with, and when we get and iron/wedge in our hand the natural instinct is to grip the club in the traditional method as we would with any regular shot. However, with us getting set-up a close as we can to a putt I really encourage to experiment and hit some chips with the grip style you use for a putt. This may sound a little ridiculous but I have used this method with many students and some, who use left below right for instance, found it much easier and relatable to establish a putting motion and feel. Again this may not work for everyone but I certainly encourage you to try it to see if it benefits you. If you use a traditional grip, like the one discussed previously, this is going to reduce and restrict the amount of wrist motion we can produce, also gripping the club this way allows us to align the back of our lead hand with the club face, meaning if we keep the back of the hand facing the target the ball will likely follow that direction. Having your hands in a putting grip position will cause the shaft to be much steeper at address and cause the club head to be in a much more ‘toe down’ position, which is perfectly fine as the shot we are trying to produce does not require the full performance off the club characteristics. We want to have a stable stance so feet should be shoulder width to just wide of shoulder width apart and the ball position to be about a club head inside the front foot. Just like the putting set-up we are going to get our eye position over the golf ball and the arms hanging nice and relaxed and in a neutral position (this will likely require you to grip down the club, maybe even close to the shaft depending on club selection) The only slight adjustment from the putting set-up is our weight distribution, once we are set-up like a putt we want to slightly shift our weight to our lead side, so that we feel about 55-60% of our weight is felt there. This is just to encourage a slightly steeper angle of attack into the ball in-swing which will help with efficiency of strike.
Swing Motion
From the set-up position we simply want to replicate a putting motion, allowing the loft of our selected club do all the work. Controlling the motion with the pendulum of our shoulders, and minimizing the amount of wrist and hand motion. Again we’ve selected an appropriate club (something we will go into detail next) to create the necessary loft, so don’t feel the need or impulse to generate additional loft to the club. This will likely result in too much manipulation of the club in-swing and too much body motion and ultimately a poor strike. Keeping the club low and finishing with a defined follow through will help get that ball rolling along the green.
Practicing and experimenting with this, likely unfamiliar set up position, will help instill trust and give the body relative cues to execute a motion that will be similar to that of a putt. Which is what we want to simplify these shots in close proximity to the green and produce better results.