How to Chip - Spinning Chip Shots
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Over the years, I've had countless people ask me how I put as much spin as I do on such short chip shots. Well, for the first time, you guys will get a peak at the technique to hit very short shots very softly but with a lot of spin. Most golfers like to come down very steep on the ball which creates a very blunt and sharp blow. The only problem with this is that a lot of speed is required to create spin and on a short shot, you'll simply hit it much too far. But by learning this technique, you'll be able to save par more often around the greens and maybe even amaze your friends in the process!
- Short, delicate shots require a lot of spin, but can't be hit very hard
- Rather than hitting down steeply for spin, slip the blade underneath the ball so it rolls up the face
- Practice getting this feeling by taking some shots with the right hand only
- It's best to practice this on a tight surface, but it's hard on the green so choose your spot wisely!
- Allow the right wrist to work flat, adding loft to the club through the shot
- It's a very short stroke with no speed or compression, but it should generate a lot of spin
- Practice with both hands on the green, then move over to the fringe - the ball should come out very soft
Well, I don't believe there's a lot of secrets in the game of golf.
The short game, there are some where I hold a couple of secrets to myself that I've figured out over the years that have helped me save a lot of strokes.
One of those is hitting these short little delicate shots where you can't put a lot of speed on the club and on the ball to generate spin, but still getting a lot of spin on the ball on these short difficult shots.
And that's something that I've taken time to develop in my own game.
Because you're always faced with those shots where you're just off the edge of the green and it's steep downhill and you need a lot of spin, but you can't swing really aggressive at it to get a lot of speed on the ball.
There's basically two ways where you can get spin.
One is what you see a lot of times, you know, guys on tour hitting down on it very steeply.
The angle of attack causes the ball to spin and that requires a little bit more aggressive to blow a steep jabby attack, a steep angle of a descent, and that will put spin on the ball.
But of course if you're hitting a short little delicate shot, we can't do that because if we hit it too hard it's going to blow it away by the hole.
So the trick was learning how to develop a shot that gave you a lot of spin, but not making a big swing.
So what I did was I figured out that basically the other way to put spin on the ball is if it simply rolls up the face.
The more the ball rolls up the face, The more it has time to spin up the club face and that puts more spin on the ball.
And it allows you to slip the blade under the face.
Is basically what I think of it as.
I'm kind of, instead of coming down very steep and trying to pinch it almost, I'm actually letting the blade slip underneath the ball.
So I'm almost like filleting the ball.
And this gets speed, but it takes a lot of the blow out of the shot.
So if I hit it on a steep angle attack, I've de-lofted the club and I'm getting a smash.
I'm really compressing the ball.
On these shots I actually don't want to compress the ball.
I want the club to literally feel as if it's working under the ball this way and that takes loft, adds loft to the club and allows it to accelerate which helps produce more spin, but while taking the brunt of the blow out.
And one of the ways that your greenskeeper is going to hate you, so don't tell him I told you this or practice it on a good green or take a little bit of time.
But one of the simple ways to learn how to do this, and the best way to learn how to do it, is actually on the putting green.
So if you've got a crappy old putting green somewhere, you can practice this.
It's great.
But what you'll find is that when you're hitting these shots, if you just use your right hand only, at some point as you move through, you can let this right wrist start to work flat again.
And you can see as I'm doing that, as I come through, the club has a lot of loft on it.
So by doing that, I'm allowing that club to feel as if it's slipping under the ball, but it's also not taking a divot.
And that's why it's important, you know, if you're doing this on a putting green, you don't want to take any grass out.
You're just barely skimming the turf.
If you have a wedge with a lot of bounce on it, the shot's going to be a lot more difficult, but when we do it on the fringe in a minute, you'll see that it doesn't have to, it's not quite as delicate.
But when you're doing this, you can find that if you hit a couple chip shots on the green, you can find the ball had a lot of spin on it.
I had a very short swing.
There's no speed in there whatsoever.
No blow.
But the ball's wanting to check up very quickly by doing this.
So just using my right hand, you can see the ball checks up and it's just a, you know, So when you go to do this with two hands, the same feeling applies that we're trying to use a little bit more of that right hand in this shot.
It's this specialty shot.
Trying to use a little bit more right hand to get it to slip under the ball.
To take some of the brunt of the blow of impact off.
Because we don't want a good, solid strike.
We want to slip the blade under there.
And so we'll do the same thing as we go through.
But now with our both hands, we can put a lot more spin on the ball.
And so practicing this again on the green, the reason for that is, is because we want to keep that angle of attack very shallow to get the blade slipping under.
And so doing it on a firm, firm, tight surface teaches you how to do that, but it keeps you from making a nice big divot.
So now we'll look at some shots actually on the fringe so we can see how it works with a less tight line.
So now I've moved over to the edge of the green, or the fringe, and I've got a longer shot.
You won't be able to see the ball land, but I've got a shot here that is something where I would typically want to use this shot.
I'll hit a little bit shorter so you can see it.
But basically now I'm going to lose a little bit of spin because of the fact that I'm on a little bit longer grasp.
But I'll still get plenty of spin, and I'm going to practice this shot just doing the right-handed drill that we started with on the practice screen.
So I'm just going to set up, take my right hand only, slip it under there, and just hit a couple little shots here to hit these delicate little spinners, these short spinners that aren't really going anywhere, just to get the ball to come up and land soft with a lot of spin.
So now, I've done that a few times, now I'm going to hit a little bit longer shot, but I'm going to bring both hands into play.
And you'll see the same little effect, it won't be quite as severe because the left hand won't let it break down quite as easy.
But, you'll still see a lot of spin on the ball, just like that.
So this shot, again, both hands, lots of spin, short little blows, and you can start to change it up as you get better.
You can put a little bit more loft on the face, do the same thing, and you'll see the ball comes out very soft.
So, the trick, the reason why it's important to learn this on the putting green is because you can slip the blade under there and not dig down, and that's going to help you learn to use the bounce effectively on your wedge so that you get just a simple little glancing blow, And that allows you to swing aggressive, to put spin on there and get the speed that we need without launching the ball and careening it over the green.
So, work on this on a tight surface.
You can even work on it on a cart path if you don't like your wedges very much.
Any tight surface, but a green is unfortunately the best way to learn it.
Just use your right hand.
Just make little strokes.
You don't have to make aggressive strokes on the green.
Just make little chipping strokes, and you'll see the ball run up the face, give you a lot of spin, and you'll build a save par around the green on these tight shots a lot more often.
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