4 Chipping Drills Guaranteed To Lower Your Scores

Apr 18, 2019

Do you struggle with chipping? GM Top 25 coach Barney Puttick can help...

4 Chipping Drills Guaranteed To Lower Your Scores

Check out these four ways to sharpen up your short game and get it up and down more often, courtesy of Golf Monthly Top 25 Coach Barney Puttick –

1 Par 18

Many golfers know that adding a competitive element to their chipping practice is a great idea, whether playing for a drink, a quid or two, or simply pride.

It adds a little bit of ‘live’ pressure as you look to beat your mate or improve your personal best.

Chip from a variety of distances and lies, with the winner of the last chip choosing the next one.

Even better, add a putting element by creating a nine-hole ‘Par 18’ challenge where your objective is to get up and down every time.

Chipping repetitively from the same spot is fine when you’re working on technique, but one chance is all you get on the course.

2 Coat hanger drill

Use a plastic coat hanger like this one to get the feeling of how the hands and wrists should be working through impact, especially if you have a tendency to flick at the ball.

To chip well, you need to keep your left hand in front of the ball at impact.

Ensuring the coat hanger comes into contact with your left forearm through impact will help you find the right position.

If you feel the hanger coming into contact with your right forearm, you’ll know you’ve flicked at the ball, with the wrists too active.

3 Down the chute

This is all about honing the path of your swing on chip shots, because many golfers tend to take the club back too flat, then swing round themselves.

The two clubs on the ground (or alignment sticks) are a visual reminder of the chute you really need the club to be operating along in more of an up and down movement.

Hit a few chips with the clubs down, then move them to one side and try to replicate that movement.

4 Find your landing spot

Many golfers do read their chip shots, but neglect to factor in where they might need to land it with their club of choice and how the ball might run out from there.

By putting a number of physical targets down at various distances, you can give yourself a clearer visual picture of where you might need to land it with each club for it to then roll out close.

An 8-iron might need to land a third of the way to the hole near the first red target then roll out two-thirds, while a lob wedge might need to land right up by the blue target and then just roll out a short distance.

All sorts of factors come into play – ground conditions, slopes and so on – but spending some time focusing on your landing spot will definitely help.

Related: 10 Tour Pro chipping tips

Checklist
– Competitive chipping practice will sharpen up your short game
- Use a plastic coat hanger to highlight if you are flicking at it
- Don’t forget to spend some time on your landing spots with different clubs

Barney Puttick, Fellow professional, Mid-Herts Golf Club

Expand 4 Putting Drills Guaranteed To Lower Your Scores