Golf Chipping - Become World Class

Chip to Win

    This is for people that are looking to get the most from your chipping routine. This applies, in part, to the 10 yard chipping routine I encourage. The suggestions that follow should help you take your chipping skills to a new level.
    First, the tendency to point the shoulders to left field is very great because most teachers encourage you to chip with an open stance. Most people don't even check their shoulder alignment when chipping and open the stance to the point of being counter productive. A little will do fine. Shoulders should line up parallel to the target line or slightly to right field. We do not want our right shoulder taking away any freedom of movement.
    Second, if you use a lot of hands, you will have to be super talented. The body is more reliable than the hands. My suggestion is to take the club back lower with mostly shoulders and a little arms. Try to use as much shoulders as possible. Do not let the lower body become rigid.
    Third, when chipping I like for people to develop something I call True Sense. On the back stroke, try to come as close to a complete stop as your comfortable with. It is not necesssary to come to a complete stop. We only want to develop a sense of what it takes to get to the target. Our senses should never be hidden in the middle of the total effort of stopping the club, getting it turned around and then heading to the target.
Use all your senses. Pay attention to how far back and how far forward the club goes during your best and smoothest chips. Then on a series of chips, paying attention only to how fast the club feels like it is going. Then a series paying attention to how fast the club looks like it is going. Do this with all of your anchor distances 10, 5 and 20 yards. The more you know the better. Use this knowledge when making your practice strokes (rehearsal strokes). Your practice stroke is one of the most awesome tools you take to the golf course. Practice your practice stroke and use it well.
    When you first take your new skill to the course you may not get an immediate improvement in scoring. While you may land your ball where you wanted, the ball may not come to rest in the location you intended. Don't get frustrated, it won't be long before you know how the ball will react in the various situations. soon after, you will be able to stop your ball near the hole shot after shot.