Problem and fix - Chip shots fat or thin, Golf (Video) - by Pete Styles
Problem and fix - Chip shots fat or thin, Golf (Video) - by Pete Styles

If you feel that you're not a good chipper of the golf ball and not a good pitcher of the golf ball, one of the biggest issues would be the fact that you don’t get the right strike on the golf ball, you don’t get the right height, and the right distance. Now the distance might not necessarily be related to whether you hit it too hard or too soft, but it could be that if you hit it fat, it comes up short and if you hit it thin, it goes too far. So you've got to try and make sure that when you're chipping the golf ball, the strike is very, very good.

Now one of the biggest issues of getting a good strike is the fact that somebody will try and scoop the golf ball up. Now scooping the golf ball, having the ball too far forwards, the club bottoming out before the ball, either hitting the ground there which is a fat shot, that's not going to work, or missing the ground there but lifting up and thinning the golf ball and topping it across the floor, that’s not going to work either. So we really need to focus on the fact we've got the ball in a good position in either middle or even slightly back in your stance. Having the ball back in your stance is safer than having it too far forwards. So if you're unsure, drop it back by an inch. The only issue you have though is a slightly lower ball flight but it would a better contact.

So if you're chipping off a bad lie, experiment with putting the ball back more than forwards. Having the ball more back hits it lower as long as you keep your hands and your body weight nicely ahead. One thing to avoid would be having the ball back then leaning back and trying to scoop it up in the air. If it's back, you put it back for a reason, don’t go back to fetch the ball from there. Leave it on the back foot, and hit down on it. If it isn’t a good lie, and it's in the long grass, put it more back in the stance. If it's a decent lie, you can have it more to the center, if it's sitting upon some very fluffy grass, and you want to hit underneath it, you could play it nearer to the front foot but that’s a far riskier approach. So play the ball, middle or back third. Play the body weight nicely ahead, the hands nicely ahead, and a nice, crisp descending blow, and in the follow through, make sure this left arm is still nice and strong and straight, no flicky, no scooping. So we play it back third of the stance, hands down, body weight left and nice and crisp in the approach.

One thing I always like to see in people to be a good ball striker is you actually accelerate into the shot, so you'll notice my approach though is a short back swing with a nice quick acceleration into the ball. Anything where your back swing gets too long, the fear is that I'm going to hit too hard to I decelerate and pull out of it and it's never going to be a good contact on that shot. So I want to be short and crisp, and accelerating. Focus on experimenting with you ball position, experiment with the length of the stroke, and experiment with accelerating through the stroke, and you'll be a better ball striker. If you're good at ball striking with your chipping, your distance control and your accuracy, and your spin will improve, and you'll chip the ball closer.

 2013-01-16

If you feel that you're not a good chipper of the golf ball and not a good pitcher of the golf ball, one of the biggest issues would be the fact that you don’t get the right strike on the golf ball, you don’t get the right height, and the right distance. Now the distance might not necessarily be related to whether you hit it too hard or too soft, but it could be that if you hit it fat, it comes up short and if you hit it thin, it goes too far. So you've got to try and make sure that when you're chipping the golf ball, the strike is very, very good.

Now one of the biggest issues of getting a good strike is the fact that somebody will try and scoop the golf ball up. Now scooping the golf ball, having the ball too far forwards, the club bottoming out before the ball, either hitting the ground there which is a fat shot, that's not going to work, or missing the ground there but lifting up and thinning the golf ball and topping it across the floor, that’s not going to work either. So we really need to focus on the fact we've got the ball in a good position in either middle or even slightly back in your stance. Having the ball back in your stance is safer than having it too far forwards. So if you're unsure, drop it back by an inch. The only issue you have though is a slightly lower ball flight but it would a better contact.

So if you're chipping off a bad lie, experiment with putting the ball back more than forwards. Having the ball more back hits it lower as long as you keep your hands and your body weight nicely ahead. One thing to avoid would be having the ball back then leaning back and trying to scoop it up in the air. If it's back, you put it back for a reason, don’t go back to fetch the ball from there. Leave it on the back foot, and hit down on it. If it isn’t a good lie, and it's in the long grass, put it more back in the stance. If it's a decent lie, you can have it more to the center, if it's sitting upon some very fluffy grass, and you want to hit underneath it, you could play it nearer to the front foot but that’s a far riskier approach. So play the ball, middle or back third. Play the body weight nicely ahead, the hands nicely ahead, and a nice, crisp descending blow, and in the follow through, make sure this left arm is still nice and strong and straight, no flicky, no scooping. So we play it back third of the stance, hands down, body weight left and nice and crisp in the approach.

One thing I always like to see in people to be a good ball striker is you actually accelerate into the shot, so you'll notice my approach though is a short back swing with a nice quick acceleration into the ball. Anything where your back swing gets too long, the fear is that I'm going to hit too hard to I decelerate and pull out of it and it's never going to be a good contact on that shot. So I want to be short and crisp, and accelerating. Focus on experimenting with you ball position, experiment with the length of the stroke, and experiment with accelerating through the stroke, and you'll be a better ball striker. If you're good at ball striking with your chipping, your distance control and your accuracy, and your spin will improve, and you'll chip the ball closer.