You're Correct!

There are three signs that dictate a great chip shot.

These are:
Ball strike - middle of the club face.
Accuracy - on the right line and landing on the edge of the green.
Distance - the ball finishes approximately hole high.

Get these three elements correct and the ball will always finish close to the hole. Heres why:

1. Ball strike
If the ball is struck from the middle of the club face, the shot will be consistent allowing the golfer to play the same shot time and time again. On each shot the ball will travel a similar height and a distance with consistent amounts of back spin and control. This allows the golfer to predict accurately what the ball will do and provides the control to stop the ball if needed. To get the correct ball strike, make sure that the set up is correct with the hands and body weight set in front of the ball to allow a downward strike through the ball and into the ground.

2. Accuracy
On a chip shot, the golfer should identify a small part of the green, ideally the nearest and flattest part, on which to land the ball. From here it can roll out to finish near to the flag. Only with good accuracy is it possible for the golfer to repeatedly land the ball in this area. To control where the ball goes check two issues.:

- At set up, check the club face. It should be pointing directly at the landing area you have picked.
- Hold the finish position and check the club face again. It should still be pointing at the landing area you have picked and there should have been no rotation in the hands through the chip shot. If there was you are adding power and inaccuracy as the club face is turning through the area of impact.

3. Distance
This is the most important factor. If the shot is inaccurate but the distance is correct, the ball will never finish far away from the hole. The distance of the golf shot needs to be consistent and so should be controlled with the bigger muscles of the shoulders rather than the smaller muscles in the hands and wrists. The bigger muscles are easy to control, especially under pressure and provide easy repetition of shots. Through the shot, always keep the hands ahead of the golf club head and keep the wrists fairly rigid. Instead, rock the shoulders and focus on the length of the swing of the club head. Make the back and through swing the same length and then if the ball needs to go further or less far, rock the club head back longer or shorter with the shoulders to change the distance.

Work on these three elements and hit consistently good chip shots on the golf course.

This does not necessarily mean that you played a good chip shot. This is an outcome rather than an intention and it is possible to get the ball close to the hole without hitting the ball properly.

This sign does give the impression that the ball has been struck correctly. However, for consistency, spin is not always the golfers friend. It is much easier to predict what will happen to a ball that is rolling along the floor than one that is spinning. This is because we do not truly know whether the ball will stop dead, slow down and roll or just plain roll out.

A controlled chip shot is one that stays low, lands on the green and rolls out to the flag. This is by far the most consistent way to play a short shot that is situated close to the green. A high shot looks good but if it goes wrong it will be much worse than if you played a low shot badly.