Keeping your fundamentals simple and doing a little practice is the easiest way to achieve success on how to chip the golf ball.
Chipping is an essential skill in golf that involves hitting the ball with a short, low-trajectory shot from around the green.
The Golf Short Game is one of the most important aspects of golf is a players goal is to lower their scores. There are many golf chipping tips out there, but to get a golfer on the right track, here are some free golf short game tips.
There are four things to consider to make the golf chipping technique a lot easier, with a little practice of course.
Stance and Ball Position
The first is to use a narrow stance and align your feet slightly open to the target. This basically means to align your feet slightly left of the target (right of the target for all the lefties).
For the chip shot, you also want to have your ball position slightly back in the stance.
Your stance does not need to be very wide, and the narrower the better because you will not be transferring weight for this very short golf shot.
The next two tips have helped many with how to chip a golf ball over the years, and have given golfers confidence to make pars when they are not hitting the ball well.
Position the ball slightly back in your stance, closer to your back foot. This promotes a steeper angle of attack, allowing you to strike the ball first and then the ground.
Swing Path
Place a golf club on the line of your feet along the ground. From here you simply want to swing the club on the line of your feet, which will be slightly left of the target. This will promote a slight outside to inside swing path which is ideal for chipping.
Slightly hinge the wrists on the backswing, and maintain that hinge through to the ball and into the followthrough. Let the loft of your golf wedge get the ball into the air.
Balance
This is an area in which a lot of golfers that struggle with chipping get completely wrong. A golfer wants minimal lower body movement during the chipping action.
Because they are making a short controlled swing at the ball, there is no need to move the hips or make a turn which a lot of weekend golfers don’t really even know they do due to habit.
To achieve this practice with a club laying on your right hip (left hip for lefties). With the clubhead on the ground and the handle laying against your hip, simply try and chip without the club falling to the ground. If you can achieve this it shows that you can achieve consistency in the area of chipping, and your weight and lower body are not moving all over the place.
It is ok for the club to fall once the ball is gone and the followthrough is complete. It is mainly to give you a backswing with minimal lower body movement.
Grip
Your Grip will stay the same as your normal grip, but It would be suggested for a little more control to choke down on the grip a little bit.
What I mean by this is to place the top hand on the grip and leave a space of at least an inch to the butt end.
This will give you more control and you will see a lot of very good professionals do this. A shorter lever is needed because you are not making a full swing. This will help with chipping the ball solid.
Practice
Last but not least you need to practice.
Practicing getting in the correct setup position using the above fundamentals can be practiced at home so it doesn’t require too much effort. There are a stack of golf chipping drills that can be used to make the golf short game practice a little more exciting.
To get good at judging distance and getting a feel for the greens you need to spend a little time at the practice chipping green at your local golf course. This can be as little as one hour per week.
A golf chipping net in the backyard is also ideal to develop technique but won’t give a golfer the sort of feedback that the speed of a golf green will provide.
Practice does not make perfect but it will help permanently ingrain good habits into your golf game.
The Golf ball can also play apart in the control around the greens and how to spin the golf ball.
Have a look at the post on How to Choose Golf Balls to learn about picking the right golf ball for your game.
Developing some of these basic habits will make chipping a lot easier when you are out playing golf with your buddies, and also make it easy to take their money if you like a wager.
Some of the best golfers in the world have many days where they do not strike the ball well and are consistently missing greens with their approach shots. They do however, have the confidence to get the ball up and down from the rough because they have developed good chipping habits through sound technique and hours of practice.
Getting the right golf wedge will also help a player with control around the greens. One of the better models are from Callaway Golf and they have a wide range of wedges to suit golfers of all ability levels.
Here is a quick video on some free golf chipping tips from teaching professional Mike Malaska. Take note of how his lower body is very stable throughout the shot.
Mike provides some of the best golf short game instruction and best golf chipping tips online.
This is great, thanks for sharing. I’ve struggled in this area and now I know that it’s because I’ve tried to hard to get the ball in the air. Also I’ve noticed a bit of movement in my lower body when chipping. I will eliminate the movement and work harder on connecting as well as grip and I know I’ll become better on chipping the ball. The video you’ve included is very informative as well.
Hi Jonathan
I appreciate your comment
Yes using the loft of the club to get the ball in the air and keeping your lower body still are essential to give you consistent chipping results. Keep it basic and do a little practice and you will achieve results.
Chris
An article after my own heart! I love playing the game but my chip shot is the worst. I have tried many different stances over the years and changed clubs to grip, etc. I think your post gives me something to change in my overall approach. I will definitely get out and try to fix my poorest short game. Thanks for this great article!
Hi Robert
I appreciate your comment.
Yes a lot of people have trouble with chipping but if you keep things simple and stick with it success can be achieved with practice.
Best of luck out there.
Cheers
Chris
Golfing is very difficult for me. The way you laid out the basics and then further clarified on the fundamentals really helps me understand your content fully. Very helpful information. I had no idea how helpful minimal lower body movement would be for my balance. Also gripping down on the clubhead for more control is also new to me.Keep it up!
Hi Stephen
Thanks for stopping by.
Yes it is very important to keep the lower body still. It is only a short golf shot so there is no need for movement.
Good luck in your next game.
Cheers
Chris
I wish I found your article years ago. For a long time, I have been a terrible chipper. I think chipping is almost as important as putting because in most cases, you would want to get up and down in two.
To improve my chipping over the years, I’ve implemented almost everything you have mentioned. Would you say that your weight should be even on each foot, or more weight should be on the front/back foot when chipping?
You post has also reminded me I need to practice more. Off the the practice chipping green I go!
Thanks.
Hi Andrew
I appreciate your comments.
Yes practice will help permanently ingrain good habits into your game.
As for your weight, keeping it evenly distributed between each foot is probably the best way to go. The theory is to have your weight on your front foot but this can be easily overdone and a lot of players end up putting their weight too far forward which makes it tough to achieve any consistency.
Cheers
Chris
Thank you for the detailed guide of how to chip a ball. I have only tried golfing twice and I’m still totally new at it and there is so much techniques and posture to learn about.
The video is very clear but the thing I lack of now is practice. I will definitely come back to your site for more golf techniques and tricks!
Hey Leo
Thanks for dropping by and good to see you are looking at getting into some golfing.
Good Luck and let me know if you have any questions.
Chris
Hi Chris
First and fore most golf is my favorite pass time sport so being able to look through your web site was and absolute pleasure. Great tips on how to chip the golf ball. I feel that this is the kind of web site that I would gravitate to when looking for equipment and tips on my game and feel as though i am in the right place for an honest review.
all the best
Chris
Hi Chris
Thanks for stopping by and I appreciate your comments.
Make sure you stop by regularly for some more tips and product reviews. I am always keen to help golfers understand that the game of golf should not be as complicated as most make it out to be.
I hope you get out for a game of golf soon.
Cheers
Chris
Awesome read!
I definitely think this will help anyone out who is trying to up there chipping game! Golf can be such a frustrating sport, but like you said practice is key.
Depending on the day I can struggle with my chipping, usually cooking it over the green instead of a nice subtle drop near the pin. I will take these tips and put them to use for sure.
Thanks
Hi Mack
I appreciate your comments.
Keeping it all pretty simple technically is very important for chipping and golf in general. We tend to over complicate things these days, because of all the information we have access to. Once a golfer discovers that their technique is sound, then confidence is gained through practice.
Thanks for stopping by.
Cheers
Chris
Excellent tutorial on chipping. Having a club rest on your hip is a great tip and one that my golf instructor has not had me do.
You don’t need to go to the golf course to practice chipping. Just place a “target” in your yard, fill a pail with golf balls and practice chipping to it from different angles and distances.
I’m definitely going to share your tips with my pro.
Hi Karen
I appreciate your comments.
Yes, if your backyard is big enough you can certainly practice chipping in the comfort of your own home. Once a golfer develops the correct technique, then creativity around the greens can really help lower scorers.
Cheers
Chris