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The Art of Chipping
Video: The Basic Chip Shot
In the game of golf, there are a many techniques that you need to master. These include the full swing, pitch,
chip, sand play and putt. Each is unique in their style and ability to affect the golf ball trajectory, spin, and distance.
The set up for each varies depending on your goal.
You don’t set up the same for a drive as you do for a putt. Realizing that there are differences according to the shot being attempted and your skill level will help you be consistent.
By definition, chipping is “minimum air with maximum roll.” You use a chip shot when miss the green on your approach shot.
The distance from the hole doesn’t determine a chip shot or a pitch shot. The distance the ball is in the air versus the amount it rolls makes the determining factor.
With that you have about four or five options (clubs) you can use, the 5 iron, 8 iron, pitching wedge, sand wedge and the lob wedge are the clubs of choice.
Some of the questions you need to ask yourself are, how firm are the greens? How thick is the rough or fringe? How fast are the greens? What kind of lie do you have? Is it uphill or downhill?
And the last one is, how confident do you feel with this shot?
This will determine the club you choose. After this choice is made you still have to use the G.A.S.P. theory to help you, which stands for grip, aim, stance, posture.
The GRIP is the same as your full swing grip where the club is in the fingers, not the palms, the v’s of both hands point between the right ear and the right shoulder for a right handed golfer.
The club face is AIMED at your target and the instep of your back foot and the club face are in line with each other. This is very important in the set up, it gives you the proper ball position to make solid contact. I have used a club as an alignment tool to illustrate this.
The width of the STANCE is very important as the distance between your feet is very narrow, less than 12 inches. The left foot is back about one inch.
As for POSTURE, you still want your shoulders ahead of your toes, your rear end behind your heals, and you want 90% of you weight on your left side.
The action of this shot is very short as the club head doesn’t get above your knees in your backswing on the follow through.
The lower body is very quiet throughout the shot. The key to being successful is to keep your hands ahead of the ball at address, ahead of the club head on the backswing, and in line with the club head on the follow-through. At no time does the club head pass the hands.
Using the technique in the article will help improve your chipping and your short game. Start off by using your pitching wedge and slowly work on other clubs.
The closer you can chip the ball to the hole, the easier the putt will be. Good luck and see you in the next issue.
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