#55 Web TV: How to Stop Sculling Your Chip Shots & Start Chipping with Confidence

How to Stop Sculling Your Chip Shots & Start Chipping with Confidence

Today we are going to look at how to stop sculling your chip shots, stop hitting the ball thin and start chipping with confidence.

You are looking out the window and you can't play golf...it may be raining, you may be at work, the golf course is not close to you or something is stopping you from getting out to the golf course or even the driving range to practice.

Well, you can do something at home, indoors...nothing can stop you if you really want to practice. Golf is only limited by your imagination.

So let's do something today that you can practice every day at home or even at work in your lunch break. Even if you did it for 5 minutes each day...you will see an improvement..but you have to promise me that you are going to practice this ok?

What you need is your sand wedge, a few golf balls, and a pillow. And you can't lay down on your pillow and have a rest, we aren't going to use it for that.

When I am teaching golfers, some new to the game or even some golfers that have been playing for a while. An interesting comment does come my way...usually I am told a reason why the ball gets topped in their chipping stroke because they are afraid of hitting the grass with their golf club.

Why afraid?

I believe there are three main reasons why this occurs;

1. Golfers feel that they need to hit the ball...they have their golf iron, they see the ball and therefore they strike the ball with the iron. It's a bit like tennis isn't it...if you have played tennis, automatically what you have to do is hit the ball with the racquet, so when you see the golf ball you have to hit the golf ball with the golf club...but the base of the golf club (the sole) doesn't touch the ground...then there is a boo boo...you have topped the ball it has sculled across the green into the bunker. All you are doing then is waving farewell to the ball and muttering not so nice things to yourself.
2. Golfers feel frightened of making a mistake...as you get closer to the green, there is more pressure...so what you tend to do is get nervous and end up scooping the ball. Now with a scoop chip shot, what happens then is that it is pot luck if you get the ball on the green. Your nerves take over and it all becomes blank...your focus is then to just try get the ball down towards the hole no matter what. Your mind is going haywire and you can't think straight...And you make a mistake anyway!
3. Golfers don't want to make a divot in the grass...you know the grass will grow back and that's what it is there for. That's why golf courses are built so that you can hit your ball off some nice fluffy grass and yes touch the grass or even have a divot along the way. Just make sure you always put sand in the divot after you are done. We do want the grass to grow back.

Really when you look at it that way it is quite simple.

Now the plan for you is to chip the ball with confidence. This is where the pillow comes in.

What I want you to do is to get your sand wedge...now set up over the pillow and make sure the bottom of your golf club is touching the pillow and just practice your chip shot on the pillow.

I want you to feel the bottom (sole) of the club touching the pillow every time you are bringing your club through with your chipping stroke.

When you start to feel that movement...I want you to place the ball on the pillow and get the feel of the sole of the club touching the pillow and allowing the ball to climb up the club face...then the ball will respond off the club face the way it needs to.

In order for the ball to work up the club face the sole of the club must touch the pillow. It will only work that way.

Above is the video on what to do...really take note of what the sole of the club is doing...plus watch what happens to the ball.

Enjoy the practice...