Pete Styles – PGA Teaching Pro

Sometimes a golfer is going to struggle when they're chipping the golf ball, if they're fatting the golf ball consistently. And a lot of golfers that fat the golf ball, their next instinct is to do the opposite of what they've been doing and to start thinning the golf ball. So they've been hitting the ground before the golf ball and dunging it, and the next thing would be to start lifting up, to look up and try and avoid hitting it fat. And then they get the top shot or the thin shot which is almost just as bad. The thing goes rolling out across the floor. And for a lot of golfers, as they thin the ball like this, it'll actually go a long way or go too far. So, they'll be looking for a little 20-yard pitch and they'll thin it and it'll go shooting off the other side of the green. So we have to be really careful we don't alter one fault and end up with a secondary fault.

So when we're looking at that thin or fat golf shot, let's look at the techniques that can help us avoid the thin. As we're setting up the golf ball, we want to lean in to the left side slightly and once we're in to this left side, it's quite important we stay down. We want to make sure we stay down through the ball. The classic thin shot is, “Did I go over the bunker?” and their head pops up, the chest pops up, and the ball goes in the bunker because the club will hit upper half or the equator of the golf ball and it will go forwards into the bunker rather than going in the sky. So, looking up too early is a pretty big cause of thinned golf shots.

There's also a risk or a feeling of being too quick with the tempo. So we talked about fat shots might be hesitation – thin shots are often too quick in the tempo. So a golfer gets a little snatchy, and as they snatch, the hands and arms contract a little bit, lift up, top the golf ball, and again, we're getting that thinned top shot. And another reason for the top shot is actually the same reason that we might see a fat shot is this over active right-hand – releasing the right hand too early.

Now, in the fat shot, we talked about releasing the right hand too early makes the club go down too early and hit the floor. So a golfer might feel that. The golfer is then going to try and not hit the floor. So they want to avoid hitting the floor, so they start to lift up and pull up. As they pull up, the club bottoms out, then comes up. And as the club is on its way up, its only point of contact with the ball would be the equator or the top, and that creates the thin. So they're looking up, they're being too snatchy, and the fast right hand, are all reasons and causes of a thin shot. So if you can avoid the fat and the thin, you're a good way on to being a decent chipper of the golf ball.