Golf Tips:
Chipping

As in putting the number one cause of poor chipping is unnecessary movement of the eyes, head and body. Movement is primarily caused from the anxiety an individual has over the result or outcome of their shot. When your worried about your results, the task of making the stroke breaks down, which causes premature movement of the head and body. This can be identified as the physical process of looking up (before you have completed your stroke) to see where you hit it. This will ultimately result in poor technique which, ultimately leads to poor result. If you teach yourself to be more task oriented on completing the stroke with very little unnecessary movement, the results will take care of itself.

One of the most obvious inappropriate techniques that accompanies premature movement is that of scooping your chips. Scooping results in dubbed and fluffed, dipped and flipped, bladed and sculled shots, as well as the dreaded double hit and the unexpected sha-k, (I CAN'T EVEN TYPE THAT WORD). To avoid the entire above chipping scenarios apply the following information.

As in putting the two rules of weight to the left foot, and looking for the grass under the ball still apply, as well as the other 5 rules. In terms of your set up, position the ball towards the back of your stance, which is behind center. Place your hands forward of the ball and ahead of your zipper, which is over the inside of your left thigh. This will create a straight line from your shoulder to the club head.

Next you will utilize a shoulder stroke, (not hands and not body) so you can maintain the same appearance of the straight line, throughout the entire stroke. It is important that the hands lead and the club head follows. This shoulder stroke will create a descending stroke, which will produce clean solid contact with the ball. The idea here is to make contact with the ball first on the down stroke, and then the grass. The stroke can vary in length depending upon the situation. I would start with a 9 iron and use a stroke that goes from 7 o'clock to 5 o'clock. With this length stroke your hands will move from the inside left thigh to just outside your right thigh on the back swing, to just outside the left thigh on the completion of the follow-through.

Expect low trajectory and plenty of roll with this particular technique. Have fun in your practice experimenting with different clubs, which will produce different carry to roll ratios. The lower the club (6,7,8 iron) the less carry and the more roll. The higher the club (9, PW, and SW) the more carry and less roll. For instance if you are just off the front of the green and the pin is on the front about 10 feet away, you may use a PW or a SW to produce maximum carry, (75 to 80%) minimum roll, (25 to 20%). If the pin is in the middle of this big long green and it was 30 feet away you may use a 9 or an 8 iron to produce 50% carry to 50% roll. If the pin is way in the back of the green some 60 feet, away you may use a 6 or a 7 iron to produce minimum carry, (20 to 30%) maximum roll (70 to 80%).

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