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How to Improve Your Chipping

Goals for Chipping

The goal of this chapter is to simplify your technique around the green. If you are able to play all three chips there will be very few occasions when you cannot get up and down.

By learning to build up a solid short game you will take pressure off your long game. The Instructions section will take you through the basic fundamentals of each of the three chip shots, present you with games, exercises and problem solutions for the most common errors.

I will explain how each shot is played and then you must practise on your chipping green to learn how it feels to play them.

Chip

Solidify Your Short-Game

Being able to chip well is golf’s "get out of jail card". Having a good short game allows you to avoid being punished every time you hit a bad shot or miss a green.

In this chapter you will learn the correct techniques for the three basic chip shots you will need to master.

Once your chipping is technically sound, play the games in the Games for Chipping section and learn how to escape from disaster. A solid short game is the most potent weapon a golfer can have.

Go through each point and build up your technique so that you have no more inconsistencies. If you need additional visual aid then watch the related video clips in the Lessons section.

By blending the instructions with the games, you will be able to integrate the mechanics into an overall feeling for the whole motion.

The key is to be able to make the technique instinctive so that once you have figured out how to play a particular shot on the course you can take the club and do it!

Terminology - Chip No. 3 vs Pitching

To avoid confusion in terminology I want to advise you that I teach in learning blocks where I use three basic chips; chip no. 1, chip no. 2 and chip no. 3.

However if you are familiar with the term pitching that is that same as when I talk about chip no. 3.

A pitch is basically a lofted shot that flies further than it rolls, so don’t be held up by terminology. To assist you and facilitate your learning curve, I have added a pitching section just to avoid confusion.