3 Easy Tips for Chipping the Ball

By John Elliott, Jr.

Poor guy. You hit it too good. Knocked it on the green and sucked it back off, now you have a tricky little chip shot. How are you going to play this sucker? Well, it’s pretty easy. The reason that I think it is easy is because it is nothing but a miniature full swing. Now in your full swing you are all the way up behind your back on your backswing and follow-through, you are trying to hit it maximum distance. On the chip shot you are taking those two sides of the swing and bringing them down to a shorter back and forth so that you can get this ball to be struck properly to land on that green and then run to that pin.

How to Chip: Short, Aggressive and Down

Remember three letters: SAD, if you don’t want to be sad you need to practice SAD. What does that mean? Short, Aggressive and Down. Watch. The most common mistake I see in the short game is a person trying to hit a little tiny shot with a really big backswing. Then from that really big backswing they then have to decelerate into the ball. That is killer. You can’t control distance, you can’t control direction and as a result you are not going to hit it very close to the hole. But if you employ thought SAD, short, aggressive and down watch what happens.

Fix Your Chip Shot

With a real narrow stance and our weight favoring our front foot. Bring in the next one, the backswing short, the downswing aggressive, as opposed to decelerating. And the final point is the word down; we are striking down to let the loft on the face drive the ball up. SAD. I don’t want to be sad. I know you don’t want to be sad, so let’s practice SAD. Short, Aggressive and Down. Nice results. Even I can make those. So if I can I know you can. Go make it.

Category: Chipping

Sub Categories: Backswing, Downswing

About the Instructor

John Elliott, Jr.

St. Andrews Golf & Country Club
3N441 Route 59
West Chicago, IL 60185
Tel: 630-231-3160

John Elliott, Jr., is listed as one of Golf Magazine's Top 100 Teachers and Golf Digest's #39 instructor in the world. He is the head professional at the Country Club of Ocala in Ocala, Florida.