- The setup for this drill is very similar to our previous drill. You are again going to start out with a pitching wedge, you will need a few golf balls, and you will need to find a practice chipping green. Unlike the last drill, this drill will not require the use of any golf tees.
- Another similarity with our first drill is the need to find an easy shot. There would be no point to placing yourself in a difficult situation for these chip shots, as you are only concerned with your technique at this time. Find a flat lie on the short grass, pick out a hole which will be easy to reach, and focus in only on executing your technique properly.
- Take your stance over the ball just as you would for any normal chip shot during a round of golf. With both hands on the club, you are going to settle into a comfortable stance while making sure that you are aligned properly with the target. Right up until the last moment before you swing the club, nothing that you do will be any different from any other chip shot.
- At that final moment, however, you are going to remove your right hand from the grip of your wedge. You can either place your hand into your pocket, or you can move it behind your back. Either way, it needs to be safely out of the way so you can hit a one-handed chip shot without any interruption.
- Now that you are set for action, go ahead and fire away with just your left hand on the club. At first, you don’t want to think about anything particularly technical – just do your best to hit a solid shot. Most likely, this is going to be a challenge, and your first few shots might be kind of ugly. That’s okay – don’t worry about the results initially. Get comfortable with the task of chipping with just one hand and do your best to make better and better contact as you move along.
- Once you have some experience, start looking for improved results and making any changes to your technique that you feel are necessary. You will quickly notice that the back of your left wrist needs to be firm and flat at impact if you are going to succeed. This is crucial. Find this solid position when you make the strike and the ball is very likely to come off cleanly.
- Feel free to hit as many chip shots as you would like with just one hand on the club. Then, add your right hand back into the mix and hit a few more practice shots. Your goal should be to hit your two-handed chip shots with the same feelings and basic technique that you use on your one-handed shots.
Crisp Chip Shot Drill – Left-Hand Only Technique
For a right-handed golfer, the left hand is the most important piece of the chipping puzzle. If you perform properly with your left hand, the ball will leave the club nicely nearly every time. Make a mistake with that left hand, however, and all bets are off. So how do you make sure you are using your left hand properly while chipping? Simple – take your right hand off the club.
Check out the simple directions below for using this drill to improve your chipping performance.
This is a great drill for bringing some simplicity to your chipping motion. You can’t do too much with only one hand on the club, so you will be forced to focus on the basics. Try to keep that simplicity in place on all of your chip shots moving forward, even when you do have your right hand available to help. The crisp shots you strike with just your left hand will help you understand why a low, solid chip shot can be so effective.
