• 7 hours ago
Golf Monthly is one of the world's leading multi-platform golf media brands.

We exist to help golfers get more out of the game they love. Our team of passionate golfers and experts produce authoritative in-depth reviews of the latest golf equipment to help you buy better, tips and advice to improve your game, ideas for golf courses to play and places to stay and coverage of the game at every level from grassroots up to Tour.
Transcript
00:00Hi, Dan Grieve here, head professional at Woburn Golf Club, here to talk about chipping
00:08basics so you can get that nice solid contact every time when you're on your fringe lie
00:12and you have a little bit of green to work with.
00:14So the good news here is if you do get the setup right, you are 90% of the way there
00:19to making a good contact.
00:20It doesn't make a bad shot impossible, but it makes it difficult.
00:23So let's make sure firstly we don't stand too wide.
00:26Let's trap the centre of gravity, let's make our feet really nice and narrow, round about
00:29one club head apart when you're playing a chip and run like this.
00:32Ball position, just back of centre, have a slight forward lean of the shaft, so you don't
00:37lean it too much, just a little bit is all you need.
00:40Let's make sure the left foot here is slightly flared out, which is going to allow you to
00:44put your pivot line, your weight running from your left foot through your knee through hip
00:49into your shoulder.
00:50So you set that pivot line, that's the line in which you're going to rotate around.
00:54It's also important that we make sure the left wrist here is nice and flat.
00:58We don't want to get too far away and start to create an angle here, because this angle
01:02is likely to create too much wrist action.
01:04For a chip and run we're trying to take the wrists out.
01:06So nice and close to the ball and let's make sure this is nice and flat.
01:10Also your shoulders need to be level, we don't want to get too much tilt, let's save that
01:13for the long game.
01:14So nice and level in the way in which you approach with the shoulders.
01:17And if you get all those ingredients right, add a slightly lighter grip as well, most
01:21people grip it way too tight when they chip, you're in a good position to hit a nice running
01:25chip shot, make a nice contact and get that ball running close to the pin.
01:30One of the lost arts in chipping is the ability to actually change your club to change how
01:34the ball runs out.
01:35So I'm never a great fan of players sticking to the same club all the time around the greens
01:39because you end up having to hit the ball so much harder to get the ball to the green.
01:44If you can just have this one chipping technique and change the club in your hand to let the
01:47ball react differently, that's a much easier way of getting the ball closer to the pin.
01:52So for example, I put a towel down on the green, a third of the way on and there's two
01:57thirds between there and the hole.
01:59So what I'm going to try and do is land the ball next to that towel and see if I can get
02:02it to run two thirds of the way out.
02:03So nine iron in my hand here, normal chipping technique, land it by the towel and you can
02:09see how that ball is running out close to the pin.
02:12Now if I have other options, I mean that's obviously a good choice there, but if I wanted
02:17to get that ball on the ground a little bit sooner and run out, I've got my seven iron
02:21in my hand.
02:22Now a seven iron is around about a 25% carry and a 75% roll.
02:26So I need to bring my target back or I'd like to land the ball.
02:29So you'll see this land a little shorter, but the speed will be greater in the ball.
02:34You can see how that ball is now running out more towards the pin.
02:38So another good option.
02:39Okay, there's not particularly one way to do it.
02:42It's what you're most comfortable with, but I think generally if you end up using straighter
02:46face clubs, you're going to get a lot more joy.
02:48So I've now got a 56 degrees sand wedge in my hand and really I'm looking at carrying
02:52this around about 75% of the way.
02:54So it's much more in the air.
02:56So it won't run that far at the other end.
03:00So you can see how that is spinning more and not running as much.
03:02So I've just shown there's three different ways to chip with three different clubs.
03:06It's up to you to find out which you're most consistent with, but I really would try and
03:10encourage you to get the ball on the green and running as soon as you can.
03:13So one final point, I do recommend that you do use the same golf ball that you practice
03:17with that you play with.
03:18It just makes sense.
03:19You can get the same feel that you'll be able to take to the golf course.
03:22So I use the 10MA TP5, I feel like it's really soft and gives me that touch around the greens.
03:26But go out there, have a ball fitting with your local pros, see what's best for you and
03:30make sure you have that consistency in what you practice with and what you play with.