To chip the ball better, follow this drill to get the ball closer to the hole from around the green.

The biggest problem that most golfers have when striking a chip shot is that they tend to use the hands and arms to flick upwards into the ball, trying to lift the ball up into the air. The problem with this is that the club cannot travel underneath the golf ball as there is not enough room for the club to fit. Therefore, the tendency is to either hit halfway up the ball on the upswing and send the ball low and fast across the green, or to hit the ground first, before the ball, which means that the ball never reaches the green.

For this exercise, use one tour stick and place it flat on the ground, approximately three inches behind the golf ball. This leaves plenty of room to play a good chip shot. However, if there is any flicking motion with the hands to lift the ball into the air, the stick three inches behind the ball will be hit, giving instant feedback on the shot. Please be aware that if this happens, the club and the tour stick will suffer no damage.

With the stick in place, concentrate on hitting downwards and forwards through the ball into the ground, rather than scooping. This action gives a good contact as the ball is hit first, with no interference from the ground, and allows the club to hit through the middle of the golf ball, making it roll up the club face and up into the air. As a by product, the ball rolling up the club face produces a huge amount of backspin on the ball. As the strike downward sends the ball forward and slightly up, the ball will bounce on the green once and then on the second bounce will grab as the spin takes effect.

To achieve this action and make sure that the stick on the floor is not contacted, we need to set up to hit the ground after the ball. To do this, position 70 percent of your body weight on the front foot and position the hands opposite the front knee. This sets the body weight forward and moves the bottom of the swing arc in front of the ball, allowing the ball to be struck first before the ground.

Following this, the chipping action needs to involve no hand action and no upward motion at any point. During the chipping action, make sure that the hands are forward of the club head at all times and check that the finish position of the chip shot is similar to the original position at set up. This action makes the club head push downwards into the ground and so the club must not undertake the hands at any point in the action. The other upward motion to be aware of is the head position through the shot. There must be no turning away from the ball through the stroke and the head must always stay looking down until the very end of the shot. If the shot is performed in this way, looking down and hands forward, the stick on the floor should always be avoided.

Practice this drill with the tour stick and your ball striking and consistency when chipping will improve.