Performance PAGE STRAP HERE EDITED BY DAVID DeNUNZIO Powered by the Top 100 Teachers in America CENTER THE PERFECT CHIP You want your on-course chips to be like the ones you munch from a bowl: nice and crisp. Yet you may be asking, Doesn t that demand perfect technique and countless hours of practice? Not anymore. If you have serious chipping issues whether you blade them, chunk them, or both Top 100 Teacher Joe Hallett has a new, foolproof way for you to knock it tight when you re just off the green. His technique is a little out there, but it works. So turn the page and saddle up to his method and make your next chip cozy right up to the hole. (Trust us: You won t be able to stop with just one.) 45 GOLF.COM Photo MONTH by DAVID 2015 ARKY Instruction photos by ANGUS MURRAY 31 Proven Ways to Shoot Your Best Scores Ever!
Performance GET UP AND DOWN THE NEW WAY TO CHIP Weekend players make all kinds of chipping errors: bad setups, big backswings, too much leg movement, and a need to flip the club at impact to help the ball into the air. Well, guess what: You can hit Tour-quality chips right now with a radical method that automatically eliminates mistakes. It s a side-saddle technique brought to my attention by PGA professional Patrick Jackson, the director of golf at Vanderbilt Legends Club in Franklin, Tenn. The more I tinkered with it, the better it worked, so much so that I ve shared it with some of my Tour students. If you struggle from short range, or feel even a little yippy with your chipping clubs, give it a shot. It doesn t just turns heads it turns bogeys into pars and birdies. START HERE STEP 1 With the club in your left hand, stand tall feet together to the right of your lie. Make sure you face the target with your toes even with the ball. STEP 2 Remain facing the target and take a halfstep to your left (about 18 inches) to create some room between you and the ball. GROOVE THESE MOVES Let your right elbow fold, with little arm swing. Target STEP 3 Hinge the club up in front of your chest, elbows at your sides. Add your right hand to the handle. SHORT IS SWEET Because your left arm is pinned against your chest, it s impossible to make more than a two-foot backswing. That s a good thing! The chipping motion has to be short, but everyday golfers tend to overdo it. As you take the club back, simply hinge your wrists and let your right elbow fold (photo, left). The club will swing up, not behind you. You re on-plane, primed to deliver a crisp strike. PUSH THE CLUBHEAD Once your backswing stops, smoothly push the clubhead back to the ball with your right arm. (Don t worry your upright backswing unlocked the bounce on your wedge, so you re destined to catch it crisp.) Once you strike the ball, allow your upper body to rotate and follow the club toward the target. No need to shift your weight. Your address position pre-sets it ahead of the impact point where it needs to be so your swing bottoms out at the ball, not behind it. Hello, perfect contact! XX GOLF.COM MAY 2017 Joe Hallett, Vanderbilt Legends Club, Franklin, Tenn.
STEP 4 Rotate your upper body to the right until it points toward the ball. (Your hips will move just a little.) STEP 5 Unhinge your elbows and wrists and sole the club behind the ball, adding a touch of knee and hip bend. Check that the face is square to your target. STEP 6 Swing the club back. This stance compels you to use more hinge than arm swing. The clubhead shouldn t pass shin height. STEP 7 Push the club down and forward with your right arm, allowing your body to turn in response. Your goal? Face the target in your finish. SHAZAM This Photo Push the club with your right arm. to watch a video of this technique See page xx. MAKE A LOW EXIT Smoothly push the club with your right arm while gently unwinding your body. The club shouldn t finish above waist height. You did it right if, at the end, your belt buckle, chest and club point at the target, with your hands and arms aligned with your shirt buttons. If the shaft angles skyward, then you used too much hand action, a death move. Less hand movement and overall speed is more. Turn so that your body faces the target in your finish. MAY 2017 GOLF.COM XX
GET UP AND DOWN NEXT STEPS Performance STEP 1 Soon you ll be able to hit chips in your sleep with this method. When you d like to chip the ball longer distances or even pitch it, adopt a more traditional setup. It s easy. Start as before... STEP 2...but turn your whole body to the right. Rotate about 30 degrees, with the ball about two feet away. Next, use your upper body to sole the club behind the ball, with the face square to the target. STEP 3 With this setup, you re free to make a slightly bigger backswing, but not so free to yank the club off-plane. As before, hinge your wrists and fold your right elbow. YOU STANCE HOLDS THE KEY 90 SHORT CHIP: NOVICE (90 & ABOVE SHOOTER) Use the setup described on the previous pages. Check that your toes are even with the ball, and that the clubface and your body face the target. This arrangement produces the smallest backswing while providing the greatest margin for error. XX GOLF.COM MAY 2017 30 SHORT CHIP: BETTER PLAYER (80s SHOOTER) Use the setup described above. By turning your entire body 30 degrees to the right, you re trending toward a more traditional setup, which is fine. With this system, the lower your handicap, the less side saddle you need at address.
Save Face by Facing the Hole Sure, your golf buddies might see you chip this way and needle you for taking a desperate measure until you start rattling pins. This technique can work for anyone. Here s why. STEP 4 Same downswing push the club to the ball with your right arm while softly turning toward the target. Through impact, extend your arms and keep the clubhead low to the ground. 1 2 3 YOU CAN T BOTCH YOUR BACKSWING It s pretty much impossible. You can t over-turn (your upper body has already rotated), you can t commit a weight shift error (your feet are together), and you can t whip the club inside (your body is in the way). And since you re hitting from the side of the ball, it s very difficult to dip or lift your head, so you ll always catch it crisp. IT S MORE FINESSE THAN FORCE By hinging your wrists and folding your elbow, the shaft gets more vertical on the backswing. This makes the club feel heavy at the top, and as if it s dropping in response to gravity coming down, even though you re pushing it with your right arm. You have less force and more finesse just what delicate shots need. IT REWIRES A YIPPY BRAIN Making a radical change like this shakes up the Etch A Sketch of the mind. It s goodbye to those bad habits: the chunks, the skulls, the yippy tendences. With a clean slate, you can start over almost instantly building a simple, repeatable motion. It s a powerful feeling. Trust me: Chipping is about to become fun again. 30 LONG CHIP/PITCH: NOVICE Use the setup described above. The 30-degree stance (relative to your target line) allows you to make a bigger backswing and impart greater energy to the ball, but again with greater margin for error than if you addressed the ball in the traditional fashion. 45 LONG CHIP/PITCH: BETTER PLAYER Start with the setup described above, but add even more body turn before you sole the club. Make it 45 degrees, as if you re playing from an overly open version of your traditional short-game setup. Same principles apply: Hinge and fold going back, then push the club into a low finish. MAY 2017 GOLF.COM XX