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How Should My Golf Chipping Set Up Be Different To My Full Golf Swing Set Up?When considering the difference between setting up to play a chip shot or setting up to play a full golf shot, the initial difference at set up is the stance.


If you are making a full golf swing, the base that you build your stance and make your swing from needs to be able to accommodate the movement that is going on above it as you swing. A full golf swing is made with a much higher club head speed than a chip is, so you need to set your stance much wider in order to accommodate the speed of movement and maintain your balance throughout the swing. With the lower swing speed of a chip, your stance can be much narrower and you can still maintain your balance for the shot.

After setting a narrower stance width when playing a chip, the ball position may now be different than for a full swing. When chipping you should set the ball position in the centre of your stance, or just to the right of centre (for right handed golfers) to encourage a downward striking action with the club head through impact. Your hands should be forward of the club head - more to the left of the ball, with the club head on the right of the ball and your head should be positioned just left of the ball. This will set your weight slightly forward on your front foot and promote a steeper swing with the club head. As such you will be able to make a downward striking action with the club head through impact and as such you will strike a crisp, clean chip.

If you were making a full golf swing with your driver, you would actually want to strike the golf ball on the up swing of the club head to achieve maximum distance. To do this, you would position the ball opposite your left big toe and set up with your hands over the crown (top) of the driver head. You would also position your head slightly to the right of your hands and these alterations would place slightly more weight on your back foot. This set up position will encourage a slightly flatter, more sweeping, arcing, swing action which will allow you to catch the ball on the up swing of the club head. The forward ball position will allow you the time required to square the club face of the longer club to the target and as such you will hit an accurate and long golf shot.

When chipping, you also need to open your stance. To do this, you need to align your feet as you usually would and then draw your left foot directly back four to six inches. This will open your stance and rotate your hips towards the target and this is crucial to allow you to swing the club along the target line as you play through the shot.

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If you attempt to make a full golf swing with your driver from a narrow stance, you will find it extremely difficult to maintain your balance throughout the swing and as a result of being off balance when you swing, you will mis-strike the golf ball and experience a much higher level of inconsistency with strike and the length of the shot.

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Playing the ball too far forward in your stance when you chip will give you issues with connection. The further you move the ball forward in your stance, the further the ball is moving beyond the lowest point of the club heads swing arc. As such you will either strike the ground, then the golf ball, producing a short shot, or you will just strike the golf ball but on the club heads up swing and as a result of this, you will produce a low shot.

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If you play a chip with full swing feet alignment, you will find it very difficult to turn your body through impact and allow the club to travel along the target line through impact. You need to open your stance up to be able to rotate your body through impact which will allow you to strike crisply and accurately.