This is a great drill to help you improve your chipping.

If you look at the club head of a golf club it is designed to get the ball into the air by being presented so that the club face strikes the lower part of the golf ball. This then forces the golf ball up the club face and into the air. In order to present the club head correctly to the ball, the shaft of the club needs to be angled towards the target and leaning forward.

To achieve this position as you chip, initially set up correctly with your feet close together and draw your left foot directly back (if you are a right handed golfer) by about four inches. Doing this will allow you to turn your body through the chip correctly and produce a great chipping action. Place more weight than usual on your left to encourage a downward strike with the club head. Hold lower down on the handle than usual as this will give you added control over the club head and play the ball from the centre of your stance.

Now create a straight line from your left shoulder, down your left arm to your left hand and then down the shaft of the golf club to the club head. This will set your hands ahead of the golf club, or more to the left and it is this position that you want to achieve as you strike the chip – hands ahead of the club head. Keeping your hands ahead of the club head, or maintaining this straight line from your left shoulder down your left arm and then down the shaft of the golf club to the club head, will encourage you to make a downward strike with the club head towards the golf ball and as a result of this, you will connect very crisply and the ball will be forced up the club face and forward into the air.

Swing the straight line to the right, away from the ball and then swing the straight line back towards the ball and through it, rotating your pelvis and torso towards the target as you strike through the ball. As you finish the shot, you should have maintained the straight line from your left shoulder down your left arm and then down the shaft of the golf club, keeping the wrists passive. You should also work on swinging the club the same distance to the right on your backswing as you do to the left on your follow through to encourage you to accelerate slightly with the club head speed through the strike.

Now place a coin on the floor. The coin is only a few millimetres high so you must be striking downwards towards the coin with the club head to strike it. If there is any upward movement in the club head, you will miss the coin and similarly, if you strike the ground before the coin you will bounce the club head up from the surface and over the coin.

Practice chipping the coin off the floor for a more accurate and crisper chipping action and you will see that when you play with a golf ball, you experience a much better connection and flight.