Drive It Better By Chipping Better

That’s right. You can improve your driving through better chipping technique. Why don’t we talk about good chipping mechanics to start with.

For a standard chip, don’t swing the club off plane, swing it on plane. You only need a little bit of forward shaft lean at impact. We want a club face that is square to the plane. Melbourne Golf Coach says that you want to hit the ball with the loft of the club, with the sole contacting the ground nicely after impact. This means that the leading edge isn’t digging or the trailing edge leaning back too far. We want our weight in our lead lead at impact, (it is set there at setup) we want to be rotated open at impact.

Once you can do everything above you will be playing much better chips. The funny thing is, that everything mentioned above, apart from the weight at setup, will enable you to hit your driver better. Everything we do in life comes gradually, there is a learning curve to everything, crawling then walking, learners permit before full license. There is progression in everything. Except golf. This is the thought process of people. Everybody tries to hit drivers out of sight before they learn to do anything else. Get some golf lessons so you can learn the game the correct way.

As a coach, I’m amazed at how many people are poor chippers of the ball. Apart from the putt, the smallest shot in golf is the chip. Yet very people have become proficient at it before attempting longer shots. If you understand the fundamentals of chipping, they are basically the same for any shot. The feel at the bottom of the swing doesn’t change much. The next time you’re out practicing, spend some time rehearsing your chipping technique. Melbourne Golf Lessons coaches prescribe this in most lessons. Focus on the fundamentals I described in the first paragraph. Gradually make the swing bigger. Turn a chip shot into a pitch shot, then a pitch shot into a full shot. Focus on the same fundamentals for all shots. The only difference is the length of the back swing and the rotation. This alone will create the club head speed and the momentum to hit the ball further.