Best Way to Improve Your Golf Chipping

The secret of good chipping is the ability to ‘see and feel’ the shot before you make it. This helps you to choose the right club, the right landing spot, and the right amount of backswing.

In all chip shots the body is fairly stationary and only the arms are used, making for a decisive shot. The chip can be used from the very edge of the green up to a distance of 55 – 65 yds (50 – 60 m) out, depending on your choice of club and the length of your backswing. The movement is one-lever for the short chips and switches to a two-lever movement when the backswing is long enough to make the wrists cock naturally. Longer chip shots are played in the same way, with an open stance but with the hands a little higher up on the shaft; also, with a more lofted club and longer backswing to achieve the increased height and length desired.

When making the longer backswing, the swing will automatically change to a slight two-lever movement because the weight of the club head moving back through a longer arc causes the wrists to break slightly. This makes it more difficult to return the club face to exactly the same position that it had at address, so you must avoid excessive wrist movement, retaining the triangle and keeping the club head low to the ground on the follow through. Returning the club face correctly to the address position is one of the most important elements of the successful golf swing, be it a long chip, a half swing or a full-blooded drive.

If in doubt when choosing between, say, a No. 7 or a No. 8 iron, pick the club with the most loft, because having your hands in front of the ball will de-loft the club slightly. A club with not enough loft encourages you to try to scoop the ball into the air – with disastrous results.

Chipping has one thing in common with the long putt – it is more difficult to achieve the correct length than the correct line, so practice swings are vital.

As is the case of all shots from around the green, it is here that even the most inexperienced players can cut their scores, by using common sense and imagination, with the confidence to repeat exactly what they believe to be a suitable practice swing.