How to be a chip-shot wizard to lower your scores

By Kim Jeong-kyoo

To lower your scores, you need to improve your chip shots around the green. However perfect your swing, mistakes are going to happen. You are going to make some errors and miss a few greens.

There is more than one right way to hit your chip shots decently. You may chip better if you use a body-driven stroke, leaving your hands still. Or you may chip better if you use your hands and wrists more.

No matter how you hit your chip shots, your impact position is important. You need to make sure it is close to your address posture. To this end, you first need to let your address posture resemble your impact position. More importantly, don’t forget ball-first contact, which is key to crisp chips.

To set up properly, place the ball in the center of your stance, with your club shaft leaning a little forward. That allows you to use the bounce on the sole properly. You’ll get your clubhead to slide through the grass without digging your club into the ground.

Choke down on your grip. That allows you to stand closer to the ball, helping you make a delicate stroke successfully.

Keep your left arm straight and don’t hunch your upper body forward. Instead, lower your body by flexing your knees more. This helps you hit your ball firmly, ridding your game of thin or fat chip shots.

Set your left hand low and as close to your left thigh as possible. The space between your grip end and your left thigh should be roughly one fist or a touch narrower. (When you hit your tee shots, the space needs to be about two fists long. When you hit your iron shots, the space should be roughly a fist and a half.)

Open your stance to let your body rotate naturally. If you align your body square, it will resist rotating. If your body does not turn, your hands will flip over, creating a poor shot.

Place your weight on the left foot. You need to keep about 60 percent of your weight on this foot during your entire chipping stroke. That helps you hit the ball correctly with a steep downward blow. This helps you make solid, consistent contact with the ball, purging your short game of fat and thin shots. You’ll preserve your address position and enjoy crisp chips.

Leave your head resting “up.” If you keep your head down, you cannot rotate your shoulders freely. This pushes your hands to play a dominant role during the swing. Make sure you leave your chin resting “up” and your neck upright, in line with your spine.

Choose the right club. When chipping, you need to use as many clubs as possible. Depending on the height and roll, you need to use a different club that fits your shot. That allows you to use the same chipping stance and ball position, making your chips simple. For better control, you need to let the ball roll as much possible. The more lofted club you use, the less the ball rolls.

Once you’ve set up properly, it’s time to swing your club. There are diverse ways to carry out your chipping stroke. Purge your mind of bias and try out the following tips.

Let your clubhead move up into the air by slightly hinging your left wrist on the backswing. And turn your body forward toward the target as you let your clubhead release through the ball. Chipping is a shortened full swing.

Keep your left wrist flat and firm through your stroke. Collapsing your left wrist, you’ll have a hard time hitting solid chips.

Make a single-lever swing. For a single-lever chipping style, hinge your left wrist at address. Preserve your wrist hinge all the way through your chip and let your body rotate the clubhead through your shot. That makes your swing simple. You can easily hit different distances by adjusting the swing length. For longer chips, just swing longer; for shorter chips, swing shorter.

Don’t shift your weight to your right side on the backswing. Mistakenly shifting your weight going back and coming down, you’ll suffer less than solid shots. The more stable you stay at address, impact and finish, the more crisply you’ll hit your chips.

Make your swing slightly steeper than normal. If you keep your clubhead low on the backswing, you’ll hit fat or thin chips. After all, placing weight more on your left side, your swing will naturally get steeper.

Land the ball on the right spot so it rolls close to the hole. Pick up an intermediate target where you want to drop your ball. If you have little green to work with, you need to hit a high shot that rolls little. If you have enough green to work with, hit a low shot so it rolls like a putt.

When you swing, use your shoulders to control the club. Simply turn your shoulders so your arms and hands stay with your body. Leaving your arms connected to your chest, you can better return your clubhead to its address position.

Keep your left hand low and close to your left thigh from address until well after you hit the ball. That helps you better control your shots. Just keep your hands as close as possible to your legs. You’ll immediately start making crisp, solid and consistent contact with the ball.

Don’t lose your spine angle before your finish your shot. Stay low through the stroke.

Hold your finish low. Make sure you finish with your club in a low follow-through. You want to hit a low shot. Hold your finish until your ball stops close to or rolls into the cup.