Chipping – Golf Instruction Tips

Requiring the utmost authority in golf is a shot that is also one of the shortest in golf. Golf instruction chipping without authority can be thin, fat or even shanked shots. Whatever can go wrong usually will. You’ll be tapping in your next, when you hit chip shots with authority, you will improve your chances.

There are a few things that lead to a lack of authority- including fear, indecision, lack of strength – and all lead to poor chipping. Think about your golfclub like a horse.If you are’nt confident,it will recognize your concerns and play up. If you show it who’s boss and in charge, the results are often far more satisfactory.

To ensure authority, the best way is by repetition. Add that with these two strength drills (below) and bring some authority back to your short game.                                           
First Drill- Hold your club horizontally out in front of your body, then cock the wrists. Get some strength and flexibility into your wrists, repeat these simple exercises for 10 repetitions and build up gradually.

Drill 2; Hold your arms outstretched with a weight (a couple of golf clubs or 440gm cans are fine if you don’t have hand weights) and lift up and down with your wrists.

Wrist Strength
To hit a golfshot with any authority it’s hard to do so if the golfclub feels heavy in your hand. The pitch or chip is a firm wristed action and the wrist must secure the club to make sure you are in control of your swing. Weak wrists are a problem for many beginning women players, but it doesn’t hurt for all golfers to spend some time with these drills.

Always be decisive
You will find any number of articles covering club selection and what type of chip shot for particular situations. Whatever the decision you make, eliminate doubt and convince yourself that it’s the right shot.
Spend time repeating the same shot over and over on the practice green.
Got some room in your backyard, set up a bucket or basket and practice chipping the ball into it, if you have time. Regularly hitting the target could mean that your decisive, have strong wrists and on your way to getting a lot more of your chip shots closer.

Learn the proper chipping set-up; weight on lead side, ball slightly back of centre in your stance, eyes and hands closer to the target than the ball is at address.
Use your dominant hand during the backswing, hinge the golfclub slightly.
Hold this position post impact, in the follow through. That is, don’t let your clubhead pass under the lead hand before impact. The ideal position at impact is the back of that hand should be nearer to the target than the ball is. After reaching impact, you may release the club a little.
Relax. Trying to scoop up a chip shot into the air is the amateures no.1 problem, they get to wristy.

Golf Instruction Chipping Tip- Bet on the percentages

High loft greenside chips might look fancy, but when you increase the loft on those chip shots, the risk of error rises dramatically. Extra loft decreases the margin for error at impact and decreases the size of the landing  zone on the green.
One of the hardest shots in golf is the second bounce check-up, it’s best left to them for now.
For amateur golfers I suggest going for more roll and less air time, always remembering to land on the green.. When faced with a chip around the greens, relying on a simple formula means using less lofted golfclubs. Of course, primary to this for any golf shot is some on course management. As is a brush up on the finer points of golf instruction for a balanced posture

Golf Instruction Chipping – The Method
Focusing on your landing spot as your target, and not the flag when chipping. The condition of the green and the loft of your golfclub will vary in each circumstance. Start with a five iron, and increase the loft depending on  the amount of green available, using the following ratios.

• 5 IRON

20 percent flight, 80 percent bounce and roll. ?

• 8 IRON

33 percent flight, 67 percent bounce and roll

• WEDGE

50 percent bounce and 50 percent roll.

First practice chipping with an 8 iron then once you’ve mastered that learn to use your wedges.

Here is a great golf instruction chipping tip I learned a while ago, try this. Use a golfball, take a normal stance for a chip shot, and throw the ball ‘under arm’(softball throw) at the target to get a feel for how hard to swing your club.
Try this to get a feel of how much strength is required to fly the ball onto the green and up to the cup, throw the ball about 2/3 of the way to the hole and allow to roll out. To gain a feel for the shot this is a good technique.

I hope these few golf instruction tips will help you to improve your short game and reduce the number of shots in your round the next time you go out on the course.