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Article #417: How to Improve your Golf Chipping Stroke

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If you can have the confidence to get understand that your golf ball is going
your golf balls close to the hole nearly to roll some distance after it hits the
every time you make a golf chipping green.
stroke, your scores are going to come Once you start to appreciate this point,
tumbling down faster than you can you're now ready to develop a technique
possibly imagine! that takes this fact into consideration.
What Is The Chip Shot? If you're not aware of the distance that
Basically, the chip shot is a flat or low your ball is going to roll, you're not
flying, forward moving approach shot. going to get your ball really close to
It's intended to be used in situations the hole, no matter how good a player you
where there is no immediate obstacle are.
between your ball and the target. A good way to get used to this new
Suppose you happened to miss the green adjustment in your approach is to stand
with your second shot and your ball on the edge of the green and just roll
landed on the apron or close to the edge balls up to the hole.
of the green. It may not be possible for You can do this quite easily and it won't
you to use your putter, because the grass take you long to get used to how much the
is longer on the apron than it is on the ball actually begins to roll and react to
green. the slope or "borrow" as we like to call
This difference in grass texture is going it.
to affect the roll of the ball, so the Once you are aware of the Landing Area
idea is to chip the ball over the grass and not the Finishing Area, you will be
and try to land the ball on the short absolutely amazed at how good your
manicured green, where it can then roll perception and feel will begin to evolve.
out towards the flag. So do the same exercise again, except
You may also have a slight undulation in this time, try and gauge where the ball
front of you. If you took the putter to needs to land so that it rolls out and
play this shot, the depth of the finishes next to or near to the hole
undulation and the length of grass you're you've chosen.
playing from will also affect the way the After you've done this exercise a few
ball reacts. times, you're now ready to move onto
So we need to learn how the ball is going understanding why the pro's are so good
to react once we hit it. at chipping!
Why Is Chipping So Important? Why 3 Clubs And What's So Special About
Golf is not about how far you can hit the Them?
ball. If you've watched any live coverage of
Golf is mainly a target game which golf tournaments on the television, then
demands hitting the ball various you've no doubt been amazed at just how
distances and seeing how low your score good the pro's are at getting up and down
can be at the end of a particular round. from around the green.
If you can save shots by improving your It doesn't matter how difficult the shot
golf chipping technique, your scores will looks, they always seem to be able to get
be lower and as a result your handicap it close and on the rare occassion - it
will improve. even goes in!
Distance & Direction - The Two Secrets To The majority of pro's only hit about
Mastering Your Golf Chipping thirteen or fourteen greens in regulation
Remember, as in Putting, the only way to during a round of golf, so somewhere
have consistency is when you can control along the way they're going to have to
your distance and direction. chip or pitch the ball close enough to
All putts and chips which go in the hole, the hole, so that they only need a putt
or come to rest next to the hole, have to save their par.
the magic ingredient of distance and The Secret Clubs The Pro's Use!
direction. The 3 clubs that the pro's choose to use
The saving grace for you is that you're are the one's which allow them to get the
going to have at least a fifty percent majority of their balls close to the
chance of success no matter what your hole, even if they make a mistake!
ball does, so long as you can hit it! The three clubs are:
The only question you really need to be The Pitching Wedge
asking yourself is - "By how much do I The Sand Iron
want to increase my percentage of The Eight Iron
success?" The Pitching Wedge is the cornerstone.
Once you get yourself into the top 70% or This is what everything revolves around.
80% range, you're going to see your The Pitching Wedge will be used for a
handicap come down so fast, it's not ball that has to fly fifty percent of the
going to be funny! way to the target and then roll the other
Judging Distance - Flat Level Green's Are fifty percent of the distance to the
Easier To Judge hole.
The idea is to get you to understand that The Sand Iron is used when the ball has
if you can imagine playing all your short to fly two-thirds of the way to the
shots, as though you were playing to a target and then roll one-third after
level green, that's one that has no landing.
undulations or slopes by the way, you'll And the Eight Iron is used when the ball
be able to gauge the roll of the ball only has to fly one-third of the way to
more precisely. the target and then is expected to roll
You must understand this one very the other two-thirds.
important fact, if you're going to get So if we break that formula down for you,
good at chipping. you can see that the pro's use
The one thing you really have to burn percentages to increase their skill.
into your brain is that no matter how Let's see that formula broken down:
long or how short a chip shot you have, Pitching Wedge - 50% Carry - 50% Roll
THE BALL IS GOING TO ROLL SOME DISTANCE! Sand Iron - 2/3 Carry - 1/3 Roll
I rarely see people chipping around the Eight Iron - 1/3 Carry - 2/3 Roll
green and the ball sticks to the ground Now, the next time you get to play a chip
as soon as it lands. First of all it's an shot, remember how far the ball needs to
impossible scenario to imagine and roll after it lands on the green, then
secondly the laws of motion won't allow choose one of the clubs above to help you
it to happen! get it closer!
So, you had better get ready to Remember - "Play with Passion!






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