You hit your drive on the 1st hole. It’s not great, but it’s not too bad for it being the first hole. You hit a ok 2nd shot, but you’re not on the green and you have a 30 yard pitch shot to get up and down for par.
You chunk that pitch shot and now have a chip shot to get up and down for bogey. You scull that one across the green and have another chip shot to get up and down for double bogey. You finally get the next chip shot on the green but have a 30 foot putt for double bogey. You leave it 10 feet short and have that for a triple bogey. You miss it a foot to the right and tap in for a quadruple bogey.
Does that sound familiar? Have you ever done that? I can say that I have. But you see how we just added 6 strokes to our score from within 30 yards. 5 from chipping? From that position we should never make worse than bogey. Can you see how if we master this part of the game we will be able to start shaving tons and tons and tons of strokes off of our game?
I hope it is now apparent how vital having a good short game is. If you shoot in the hundreds you can easily lower your scores to the 90s, and maybe even high 80s. Trying to break 90? The short game is the way to do it.
Can you not seem to break 80? How is your short game? Chances are it’s not good enough.
Here is some basic set up and drills to improve your chipping game.
This is the way I like to set-up.
First:
I like to have my feet together and pointing to a 45 degree angle to the left (for right-handed players).
Second:
Then I like to have the ball off of the heel of my right foot, so it is in the back of my stance. Some people like to have it in the middle, so you can vary inbetween the middle and back and find whatever works for your.
Finally:
Then I like to have my club pressed forward a little bit which helps you with not being too wristy.
This is the basic set-up that almost every PGA Tour golfer has.
Next one of the problems most amateur golfers have is leaving the weight on their back foot which causes mis-hits.
So here is a flamingo drill to practice.
It’s a real simple drill and all you do is practice hitting shots standing on only your left foot, or front foot. If you can do this, and practice it, then you will start hitting more and more consistent shots.
This is because each chip shot your weight should be on your front foot, to force a descending blow.