Best Way to Make a Short Chip Shot in Golf

This little chipping action is just for a shot of up to ten to fifteen paces – a very short one. The more similar you can make it to putting, the better the stroke will be and the more control you will have. Remember that a full 7 iron may hit anything between 80 and 140 metres, depending on your standard. You need to firm the action up to control it for a short distance. Grip the club firmly to keep the shot short.

Learn to use your 7 iron and make it feel like a putter. Line up a row of balls on a green with a downhill shot. Put the closest 45cm away from the hole with 30cm (12in) between adjacent shots. Set up to the first one with your 7 iron sitting very much on its toe and just play a little putting stroke, striking the ball towards the toe.

You will begin to feel a little bit of spin to the ball and just a tiny hop. You don’t need to brush the green and you certainly won’t damage it. In this way you learn control and the feeling of the ball just starting to lift off the ground. It only just rises. Don’t try to help it.

To feel the contact from the toe tor a nice light, gentle contact, line up several balls in a row. Gradually work along the line, just brushing the grass and feeling the ball hopping gently away. Remember to move your feet between shots!

This is a nice exercise to relate chipping and putting. Lay your putter down about eight paces away, putter head facing you. This becomes the imaginary hole you are aiming to. Just chip a few balls from off the green towards your putter. Then lay your 7 iron down just on the edge of the green and putt a few back again. Feel how close you stand to the ball with your putter and see how your eyes are directly over the ball. “Fry to reproduce the same sort of feeling with your 7 iron. Inevitably you will stand a little further away from the ball, but the two should feel as similar as possible.

In order to lengthen the chip just a little, lean very slightly to the left. This de-lofts the club a fraction and will send it away a little bit lower and further. But the maximum for this shot is only about 15 metres (17 yards) -it really is only a very short chip. So widen the stance with your left foot, lean slightly to the left and always think of hitting the ball down and forwards and not trying to help it into the air.