Chipping Eureka
2 Minute Read.
Chipping problems plague golfers of all levels, ask Tiger Woods and Martin Kaymer.
Within the amateur game, poor technique can be a big reason for bad chipping, as can... not enough practice, or making a poor club choice, for the shot you are faced with. .....but the golfers mentioned above, wont be suffering from poor technique.
So, if it isn't technique, its something else.
Its your nerves. You are nervous of hitting the ground.
If the picture of the lie below
gives you the chipping jitters.
..but this one doesn't quite so much.
..... then there is some uncertainty in your mind. and any trace of uneasiness undermines the shot.
During months of chipping practice the results I had were pretty sketchy.
I dabbled with technique. I prefer to set my wrists and hold it in the forward part of the action, but I tried the stiff wristed approach. It didn't seem to matter, the results were poor.
The breakthrough
See what happens in your chipping practice, if you dont let the club hit the ground,.....and dont even brush the grass.
Aim to hit the ball somewhere just below the equator on all chips, and you have a 1cm margin for error (downwards).
Nervous reaction ruins golf shots, thats why if you type 'golf nerves', into the google search bar you get 650,000+ results.
In the case of chipping in particular, hitting the ground not only ruins the shot, it also creates a very unhelpful nervous reaction. I didn't phrase the suggestion positively, by saying 'hit the ball clean' because in all golf shots (apart from bunker shots), aren't we trying to do that anyway....... and we still mishit.
So 'dont hit the ground'.
Why?
The nervous system of the golfer who is a poor chipper, is reacting with uncertainty, concern and uneasiness, the nervous system is unsettled.
For it (the nervous system) to adapt, it has to lose the uneasiness that duffing chips created.
It does this by not duffing chips, and you cant duff chips if you dont hit the ground.
p.s Even if you thin a few.
