Chipping Tips
Experiment with your chipping shots so you’ll know which club to take and what shot to take in most any given situation.
- Learn how to create different shots with clubs that have different lofts and make them work for you. Be creative when practicing, but don’t overreach yourself when playing.
- Practice using different clubs on different lies so you will know how to develop good chipping techniques in most any situation.
- Place many balls in the same position and use a different club on each ball to see how it performs. After a while, you will find a favorite club. Repeat this process from a different position.
- To keep your ball in the target line, open the clubface square to the ball and open your stance.
- Never waste time worrying about your technique when playing. If you do, you’ll find that you become tense and your shot will be thin. Trust your instincts.
- Don’t take an overly long time, but feel free to take the time to visualize the chip, read the green, and make sure you have the proper ball to target line.
- Don’t lift your head too early after your club makes contact with the ball; if you do, you may thin your shot.
- If you find that you are overshooting the flag, or falling short, you are probably not accessing where the ball will bounce first. To overcome this, visualize where the ball will first bounce, make your shot choice, and take it.
- Even when you are practicing your chipping, you need to keep your competitive mentality. Set goals for yourself or you’ll become bored with practicing very fast. Look at every chip as a potential match winner so that you’ll have enough mental pressure on yourself to perform well each and every time you take a shot.
- Imagine that you can only take two shots; one from the rough, or fringe, and one to putt the ball into the hole. After you’ve mastered this, you can work on getting the ball into the hole with a chip.
A good way to practice pitching and chipping is to invest in something like a small plastic children’s pool. Work on chipping and pitching your ball into the pool. It makes for some great practice.
Getting Out of Sand Bunkers
Every golfer will find himself in a bunker at one time or another. When your ball ends up there, and believe me it will, don’t freak out. Bunker shots are really not hard if you remember these tips:
- If you find yourself having to take a shot from a shallow fairway sand bunker, use a mid iron or a 5-7 wood. This will enable you to not only get the ball out, but also up the fairway 40-50 yards, too. If you are using the iron, choke down a bit on the club and you may end up with a low trajectory ball that goes 50-100 yards up the fairway.
- If you are in a rough, sandy area and all you see is the top of the ball, you have yourself what golfers refer to as a poached egg. Approach this like you would the above bunker shot with a normal stance, but a bit more open and place the majority of your weight on your front foot. Close your clubface and take a steep backswing so the butt of your club is pointing at the ball. When you take your swing, don’t shift your weight and keep most of your weight on your front foot.
- Next, hit two inches behind the ball. Yes, you read right, hit two inches behind the ball. Yes, you are going to hit the sand, but you will actually end up driving the ball out of the sand. If you try to hit the ball, you’ll just end up burying it deeper into the bunker. Lastly, don’t forget to swing through your stroke. Don’t stop once you’ve made contact with the sand. Swing through.
- Spend time practicing at a bunker with your ball buried at different depths. This will give you confidence if you should ever end up in a sand bunker during a round of golf.
When you’re learning and you find yourself in a round of golf and you can’t get out of the sand bunker with an iron or a wood, quit racking up strokes. Just get out your foot wedge and use it so you can get out of the bunker.