Chisag's Tip Of The Day #12

[chisag]

... Played with someone today that was visiting Hilton Head from Pittsburg and it was his first round in SC. He kept hitting his chip shots a hair fat and the velcro like bermuda grass was grabbing the club and advancing his ball a few inches only. I was having a hard time judging the swirling winds on an unfamiliar course so unfortunately I had lots of chipping opportunities. I was getting my chips close but actually chipped in a 2nd time midway thru the back 9 and Steve asked me how in the heck are you chipping so well when you play bent grass at home just like me!?!? I told him the technique is the same, you just have to add a little more speed and put contact is a must. But I also gave him a refresher on chipping basics before the tip that changed his chipping. 

... Start with the ball just inside your back foot so your club head is descending into the ball. Make sure you have your with on your front foot and your hips are leaning forward with a slightly open stance.  I prefer to see at least 70% of the weight on the front foot but you can use how ever much is comfortable between 60% and 90%. Like most things in golf both hands equally is best, but you can use the leading hand more than the trailing hand if that helps you. It is a pulling of the club head forward, not a pushing motion so pulling mostly with the lead hand is perfectly OK and if you have been pushing with your rear hand, I would highly recommend using more lead hand until you get comfortable pulling the club head with both hands. If you have a lot of feel, I like to see some hinging of the wrists on the backswing and slight unhinging into the ball but no release, just a hit and hold. That said, keeping your wrists still with little or no hinging works well for those not blessed with good feel. So that covers the basics. 

... If you have the basics down but still struggle with consistent contact, here is a drill for you. Look at the front of the ball only, and attempt to hit the front of the ball with your club head, not the rear or center of the ball. This should do two things. 1) Stop you from scooping from the rear attempting to get the club head under neath the ball and 2) create a slightly descending blow into the ball which is the key to solid contact. Many of you that struggle with chipping will be surprised how much better your contact is when focusing on and hitting only the front of the ball. Give it a try and I hope this helps!

[ncwoz]

12 hours ago, chisag said:

Look at the front of the ball only

I'm curious if there are other shots where you look at a specific part of the ball as well? Or is that kind of a trick to help eliminate the duffed chips?

[chisag]

... I would not call it a trick, more of a drill or change in focus. With a chip you want to have a slightly descending club head into the ball and the last thing you want to do is try to hit up on a chip, which many that chip poorly endeavor to attempt. Everything about this drill is exactly the same as a "normal" chip, but just changes your focus. In severe cases I would put a tee in the ground right in front of the ball and have the student focus on hitting the front of the ball straight down into the tee. As always with golf, once you have your target locked in, the focus should be on the process not the result, and this drill helps to accomplish that.