Pete Styles – PGA Teaching Pro
If we first investigate the issues with hitting the ball fat – so what does a fat chipped shot look like? Well, I'm lined up here, I'm playing this way, I'm trying to hit a nice little pitch, and I hit the ground before the ball. So I hit the ground here, then I hit the ball here. And that ball doesn't go as far as I wanted it to. Now, that was actually quite a good fat chipped shot. If I had a flag out there, it probably would have come up about 15 feet short of the flag.
The worse version of this is when golfers make a couple of other mistakes. Maybe we have the ball too far back in the stance. Maybe we start to scoop with the right hand and we hesitate at the same time as hitting the ball, and there's a risk there that this can happen. Some golfers will literally hit the ball that far when they're their chip shots. And it's just such a frustrating shot to have. So, if we consider that the ball should be around about the center of the stance. Some golfers when, they're chipping and pitching, have the ball way too far back. This means the club is coming down too steeply. So if you were to hit very slightly behind the ball and you're coming down steeply, the club will just literally stop in the ground. It won't move anywhere. So, having the ball too far back is a big no-no. Also, having hesitation – being scared of your technique, being scared of a bad result, coming down and almost decelerating. Again, decelerating into the ball, you hit the ground behind the ball, the ball is going to have no power and it goes nowhere. And one other reason why people will hit the ball heavy like this is scooping with their right hand, which adversely is almost a technique they're trying to use to avoid scooping it, they're trying to help the ball into the air. So, coming into the ball with a right hand might be scooping under, trying to help the ball into the sky. But that actually bottoms the club out too early. You bottom the club out on the far side of the ball before you get to the ball. So flicking with your right hand is a bit of a no-no as well. So ball in the center, body weight on the left side, accelerate through and don't use your right hand too much. And I think they're really good crucial key points to help you with your good crisp ball-striking in your simple chipping technique. 2016-09-27 Pete Styles – PGA Teaching Pro
If we first investigate the issues with hitting the ball fat – so what does a fat chipped shot look like? Well, I'm lined up here, I'm playing this way, I'm trying to hit a nice little pitch, and I hit the ground before the ball. So I hit the ground here, then I hit the ball here. And that ball doesn't go as far as I wanted it to. Now, that was actually quite a good fat chipped shot. If I had a flag out there, it probably would have come up about 15 feet short of the flag.
The worse version of this is when golfers make a couple of other mistakes. Maybe we have the ball too far back in the stance. Maybe we start to scoop with the right hand and we hesitate at the same time as hitting the ball, and there's a risk there that this can happen. Some golfers will literally hit the ball that far when they're their chip shots. And it's just such a frustrating shot to have.
So, if we consider that the ball should be around about the center of the stance. Some golfers when, they're chipping and pitching, have the ball way too far back. This means the club is coming down too steeply. So if you were to hit very slightly behind the ball and you're coming down steeply, the club will just literally stop in the ground. It won't move anywhere. So, having the ball too far back is a big no-no.
Also, having hesitation – being scared of your technique, being scared of a bad result, coming down and almost decelerating. Again, decelerating into the ball, you hit the ground behind the ball, the ball is going to have no power and it goes nowhere. And one other reason why people will hit the ball heavy like this is scooping with their right hand, which adversely is almost a technique they're trying to use to avoid scooping it, they're trying to help the ball into the air. So, coming into the ball with a right hand might be scooping under, trying to help the ball into the sky. But that actually bottoms the club out too early. You bottom the club out on the far side of the ball before you get to the ball. So flicking with your right hand is a bit of a no-no as well.
So ball in the center, body weight on the left side, accelerate through and don't use your right hand too much. And I think they're really good crucial key points to help you with your good crisp ball-striking in your simple chipping technique.
