Whoever Taught You How to Chip Didn’t Teach You This: Drastically Improve Your Chipping in a Matter of Minutes.

There is nothing more satisfying than helping a golfer fix their chip shot. It doesn’t get old—not even after 30 years of coaching.

If you can improve your chipping, you can improve your scores. Best of all, it’s surprisingly easy to learn how to chip well.

Matter of fact, you and I are going to do exactly that right now in just five minutes. I’m going to teach you the two drills and one feel I give every single student when I’m teaching them how to chip.

These tips are fun, easy, and make a world of difference. Let’s get to it.

How to Chip: Key Points

• Improve your contact quickly by drilling chip shots while balancing all your weight on the lead foot only. This forces you to keep your upper body steady so you can avoid accidentally moving the low point of your swing.
• Improve your touch and feel by drilling chip shots with your trail hand only. This hand is more sensitive to the nuances of rhythm and power; it’ll help you key into touch and feel, drastically enhancing your distance control.
• Feel the butt end of the club moving away from target at the beginning of your takeaway. Hinging your wrists too early in the swing makes the shot come out hot and low.

Lead Foot Only Drill

What it improves: Contact

How to do it:

1. Instead of taking your regular chipping stance, position your lead foot in line with the golf ball.
2. Balance all your weight on the lead foot, resting the toe of your trail foot on the ground behind you for support. (You can lift the trail foot if you prefer, but I typically recommend using it as a kickstand for the sake of safety and stability.)
3. Make little chipping motions to get warmed up, then hit some chip shots from this position.

How Does This Improve Your Chipping Contact?

Most amateur golfers who struggle with contact in their chip shots do so because they have the same bad habit:

Their upper body moves too much in their swing. They tilt away, effectively moving the low point of their swing farther back and destroying all hopes of getting decent contact.

This drill trains you out of that habit by putting you in a position where side-to-side movement is not an option. You’ll instinctively avoid it because you know tilting will cause you to fall.

Run this drill regularly, and you’ll develop a great habit of keeping your chin and sternum steady. You’ll see the payoff on your scorecard.

Trail Hand Only Drill

What it improves: Touch and feel/distance control

How to do it:

1. Get set up without a golf ball.
2. Hold the club in your trail hand only.
3. Put your lead hand in your pocket.
4. Make a few continuous swing motions back and through.
5. Take a moment to get into the feel of it. Notice the rhythm of the club and your weight moving together back and through, back and through, back and through.
6. Step up to the ball and hit some chip shots.

This drill might be a little challenging at first. But stick with it. It won’t take too long to get the hang of it.

How Does This Improve Your Chipping Distance Control?

This drill gives you a chance to tune into your dominant hand only. Your trail hand is the same hand you’d use to throw a ball or sign your name. It’s significantly more sensitive to nuanced sensations and movements than your lead hand is.

By removing your lead hand from the equation, you allow the hand that’s naturally better at touch and feel to set the rhythm and pace of your swing.

Once you tap into that, you’ll have a much better time controlling your distance on chip shots.

My Golden Nugget for a Great Chip Shot

The last thing I want to teach you is a feel I give every student who wants to learn how to chip like a pro.

I consider this my golden nugget. You probably won’t hear it anywhere else. In fact, it’s more likely you’ll hear the opposite advice. But try it for yourself. I promise you’ll get results.

When you start your chipping motion, I want you to feel the butt end of the club moving away from the target… at least initially.

A lot of golfers get the butt end moving toward the target while the clubhead moves away. You may have heard this referred to as “hinge and hold.” Some folks will tell you this is the right way to handle a chip shot, but I strongly disagree.

When you hinge immediately on the takeaway, you compromise your chances of controlling your contact. Your chip shot will come out hot and low.

So instead, make sure the butt end of the club initially moves away from the target, then you can slightly hinge later in your backswing.

How to Chip: A Quick Recap

• To improve your contact, practice the Lead Foot Only Drill by balancing on your lead foot as you make practice shots.
• To improve your touch and feel and distance control, practice the Trail Hand Only Drill by making chip shots with your trail hand only.
• On every chip shot, make sure the butt end of the club moves away from the target as you initiate the takeaway.

Do all three of these things, and you’ll see massive improvement in your chip shots and your game overall.

Want More Straightforward Chipping Advice Like This?

I cover these drills plus four others in Chapter 11 of my new bestselling book, The Easy Break: A Radically Simple System for Better Putting, Chipping and Bunker Play.

The book is loaded with drills, checklists, graphs, images, and practice plans, all designed to simplify your short game and help you make quick wins on the course.

Sharpening your short game is the fastest way to lower your scores. If you’re ready for a golf breakthrough, get your copy of The Easy Break on Amazon.

About the Author

I’m PGA Teaching Professional Todd Kolb—a four-time Golf Digest Best-in-State Instructor, Amazon Best-selling Author, and Minnesota PGA Teacher of the Year. I’ve worked with students of all ages and skill levels in my 30 years of coaching, from first-timers to an LPGA major champion. I’m also the Director of Instruction for VLS Golf and USGolfTV.

My work with VLS Golf and USGolfTV revolves around helping the everyday golfer cut through overcomplicated traditional instruction to find solutions that actually work for them.