CHIP IT STONE DEAD
Scramble pars like a Tour pro with Chris Jenkins’ eight-page guide to saving your score around the greens.
If there are two things all golfers can do well if they apply themselves, it is putting and chipping. Neither requires brute strength or any great physical prowess so a big-hitting young man and an elderly grandfather are on a level playing field near the green.
Good chipping requires a fluent action, steady fundamentals and a bit of nouse. Here are the fundamentals ... the rest is up to you and how much you practice.
The grip for a chip should vary slightly from your normal grip. Your normal grip probably has the thumb of your left-hand (for right-handers) positioned just to the right of the top of the shaft. The chipping grip should see your left thumb sitting straight on top of the shaft which will give you an open clubface grip.
As you set up to the ball, imagine you are holding a handkerchief between both your elbows and your ribs. This will feel quite compact but it gives you a good guide to how far your hands and arms should be away from your body. If you drop the hankies from under your arms at this early stage, the ball, your hands and arms are too far from your body.
Your stance should be open to the target line (that is with your front foot drawn back to be further from the ball). Then, imagine someone has cut two centimetres off your front leg, which is now considerably shorter and is forcing you to lean toward the target. Bend your knees to the left as well, as this helps to put your weight and centre of gravity toward the target.
The most important thing you should remember in your bid to chip well is to allow your swing to come from the shoulders. The club should be taken back on a slight curve and then allowed to hit through the ball. This is helped by squeezing your elbows into your ribs, just like Cameron Smith is doing here.
As your weight is predominantly on your left side, your backswing will tilt up. From this position the club will hit the ball before it hits the grass to avoid a fluffed shot.
You should remain flat-footed as you play this shot and your shoulders will rotate depending on the length you require to get the ball to the hole.
If you want to chip longer, take a straighter-faced club.
Forget hitting the ball miles down the middle of the fairway. There’s nothing more satisfying in golf than pulling o an amazing recovery shot from around the green. As any Tour pro will tell you, the quickest way to lower your scores week in, week out is to develop a razor sharp short game. Missing greens is an inevitable part of golf – even for the world’s best – so if you can nullify the e ects of errant approach
shots, you’ll see your handicap tumble.
Over the next few pages, leading coach Chris Jenkins demonstrates the techniques and strategies you’ll need to sharpen up around the greens.
If you can introduce the techniques demonstrated into your game over the next few months and dedicate some time for regular practice, you’re going to notice a huge improvement in your scrambling and a marked dierence in your scoring.