A Guide to Controlling Your Chip Shots

Chipping might be the most-underrated of all skills on the golf course. A good chip shot can make up for a lot of mistakes with your other clubs, yet most golfers don’t spend much time practicing it. If you are able to control your chip shots from around the green and leave yourself with shorter putts all day long, your scores are almost sure to go down as a result.

There are a lot of misconceptions about chipping, and many amateur golfers go about it incorrectly as a result. Using the following points, work on improving your chipping game and you will be one step closer to achieving your golf goals.

• Use one club. Too many golfers use a variety of different clubs for their chip shots – and never get good with any of them as a result. Unless you have time to practice golf all day, every day, you will be better off picking one club and hitting every chip shot with it. Something in the range of 56* to 58* of loft is probably best, but it is up to your personal preference.
• Don’t choke down the grip. Most golf teachers will tell you to choke down on the grip when you are chipping, but this isn’t good advice. You want to be able to feel the weight of the clubhead during the chip shot, and you will lose some of that feel when you choke down. Instead, take your regular grip and use the full length of the club to swing down into the ball. You might have to get used to this technique at first, but it will quickly become more natural and help you control your chip shots easier.
• The lie dictates what shot you hit. Don’t try to hit miracle shots from a bad lie around the green – you are only risking a big mistake. Instead, hit conservative shots from poor lies and wait until you have a good lie sitting up in the grass to try for difficult shots. This will take some patience, but your chipping game will be better for it in the end. When you arrive at your ball near the green, first look at the lie that you have and make sure it is going to work for the shot you want to hit. If not, adjust your plan to pick a shot that fits with the lie of the ball in the grass.