Position your feet close side by side with 70% weight on your front foot, and place the ball just off your back foot for clean contact. Use a pendulum-like swing with your arms and shoulders moving as one unit—no wrist flipping! Choose higher lofted wedges for soft landings or lower irons for more roll. Practice the 2:1 tempo ratio where your backswing takes twice as long as your follow-through. Perfect these fundamentals to uncover advanced techniques that'll have you saving par consistently.
When you're setting up for a chip shot, your stance forms the foundation for everything that follows—and getting it right can make the difference between sticking it close or watching your ball roll off the green. Keep your feet close together, about a club-width apart. This narrow stance lets you rotate your torso easily, which is essential for controlled chips. Drop your front foot back slightly from the target line and turn it outward a bit—this encourages natural body rotation while maintaining balance.
Position the ball just off your back foot, typically in front of your big toe, to promote that clean, descending strike you're after. Put about 70% of your weight on your front foot and keep it there throughout the swing. This forward weight distribution prevents those dreaded fat shots that leave you short of the pin! Keep your right arm straight to maintain proper distance from the ball and establish the correct posture for consistent contact. Lower your hands on the grip to bring your body closer to the ball and enhance your feel around the greens. Focus on maintaining proper posture by bending forward from the hips with your arms hanging naturally below your shoulders to create the ideal setup position.
Now that you've got your setup dialed in, let's talk about the swing itself—because even the perfect stance won't save you if your mechanics fall apart.
Think of your chipping swing like a pendulum—smooth and rhythmic. You'll want a 2:1 tempo ratio, where your backswing takes twice as long as your forward swing. This creates consistent force through impact.
Keep your arms and shoulders connected in a triangle shape throughout the motion. Use body rotation instead of just flipping your wrists—this prevents those dreaded fat and thin shots. Your entire torso should rotate back and through together.
Here's the key: maintain that low, smooth motion and let the club do the work. Focus on achieving center clubface contact for more reliable results around the green. Remember to use a one-lever stroke without hinging your wrists to maintain consistency. No scooping or trying to help the ball up!
Additionally, keep your lead wrist flexed throughout the swing to ensure clean ball contact and prevent flipping the club.
Perfect mechanics mean nothing if you're swinging the wrong club for the shot at hand. Your club selection directly controls flight height and roll-out distance. The key point is: higher lofted wedges create those soft, high-arcing shots that land gently and stop quickly—perfect when you've got limited green to work with. Meanwhile, your 8-iron or 9-iron produces lower, penetrating flights that'll roll out farther after landing.
Think about carry distance versus total distance. A wedge might carry 15 yards and roll 2, while that 9-iron carries 20 and rolls 10 more. Understanding your carry distance for each club helps you avoid hazards and plan your approach shots more strategically. You can also adjust flight by opening or closing the clubface—opening adds height and spin, closing does the opposite. Match your club to the shot requirements, not just distance!
The lob wedge offers the highest loft in your bag for those delicate shots requiring maximum height and spin when you need the ball to stop immediately upon landing.
Consider choking up on the club when you need enhanced precision around the greens, as this technique provides better control for delicate chip shots.
Distance control separates good chippers from great ones, and it all starts with making solid contact every single time. You'll want to establish a baseline stroke length that feels comfortable and repeatable. The key point is—once you've got that down, practice hitting chips with progressively shorter distances without overshooting your previous landing spots. This drill trains your brain to calibrate distance naturally.
Keep your hands relaxed so you can feel the clubhead's weight throughout the swing. That natural momentum creates consistent rhythm and prevents you from getting handsy. Try the same stroke length with different wedges to learn how each club's loft affects carry and roll. You'll typically see about three paces difference in rollout between clubs when using consistent swing lengths. A nine iron typically produces a 1/3 air time to 2/3 ground time ratio for optimal distance control. Remember, your torso should drive the motion, not your wrists! Focus on simplicity and repeatability in your technique rather than trying to manufacture different shots with varying swing speeds.
While many golfers obsess over swing mechanics, the secret to crisp chipping lies in how your club interacts with the turf beneath the ball. You need that clubhead to engage the ground for proper ball flight—no turf contact usually means thin shots that'll roll past the pin.
Here's the thing: position your ball slightly back of center in your stance. This promotes the ideal ball-first, then-turf contact pattern you're after. Open your clubface just a touch to help the wedge glide smoothly through the grass. Keep your right hip raised throughout the swing—this prevents you from catching turf before the ball. A slight divot or turf scuff after impact isn't just okay, it's actually what you want for consistent path and spin control! Keep your arms relatively straight at impact to maintain the proper club path and avoid the club bottoming out too early.
Remember that grass type affects how your ball will react after contact, so adjust your technique based on whether you're playing on bentgrass, bermuda, or other surfaces. Practice drills like the Approach Challenge can help you develop precision and consistency in your chipping technique under pressure.
Once you've nailed down that turf interaction technique, you'll need a solid practice routine to lock it into muscle memory—and most golfers get this completely wrong. They'll spend hours hitting random chips without any structure.
Here's what actually works: practice 2-3 times per week for 45-60 minutes total, dedicating 15-20 minutes specifically to chipping. Your brain needs those rest days between sessions to consolidate what you've learned—it's called distributed practice, and it beats marathon sessions every time.
Focus on building consistent distances from 20-60 yards using quarter and half swings. Mix up your lies too—tight grass, rough, fringe. Track your up-and-down percentage because that's the stat that separates good chippers from great ones! Create pressure practice situations by setting targets and challenging yourself to get up and down a certain number of times in a row to simulate real course conditions.
For uphill lies, use less loft like a pitching wedge instead of your lob wedge, and position your shoulders parallel to the slope. Put more weight on your back foot and expect the ball to fly higher with less roll. On downhill lies, grab a more lofted club and lean forward with your chest 6-7 inches ahead of the ball. Stand wider for balance and let the club chase down the slope.
When your ball's in wet sand, dig your feet in slightly for stability and position the ball forward in your stance. Use a sand wedge with less bounce or try a gap wedge to prevent skidding on firm wet sand. Hit about one inch behind the ball instead of two, and swing aggressively through impact. The wet sand's heavier, so you'll need that extra power to escape cleanly!
In windy conditions, you'll want to choke down on a lower-lofted club like an 8-iron and position the ball back in your stance. Take a three-quarter swing with minimal wrist action to keep the ball flight low and reduce spin. Focus on landing the ball in a specific zone rather than at the pin, and let it roll more to minimize time in the air where wind affects it.
Yes, you'll use fundamentally the same chipping principles, just mirrored! Keep your weight on your lead foot (left foot for lefties), hands ahead of the ball at impact, and maintain that firm wrist position. The key difference is your grip—your left hand goes lower on the club with your right hand on top. Everything else translates perfectly, so don't overthink it!
When your ball's against the collar, you'll want to position it slightly back in your stance and keep your weight forward. Use a wedge and adopt a putting-like stroke with minimal wrist action—think smooth glide, not dig! Keep your backswing short (about 6 inches) and focus on hitting the ball's lower portion. This creates a controlled, low path shot that rolls predictably toward the hole.
You've got the building blocks to change your short game from frustrating to fantastic! Start with your setup position – it's your foundation. Practice those swing mechanics until they're second nature, then experiment with different clubs to control flight path. Focus on distance control through deliberate practice, nail your turf contact, and stick to consistent routines. Your scorecard will thank you for excelling in these fundamentals!
