High-Handicappers... Chunking Chip Shots Is Totally Avoidable (With This Expert Solution)
Stop chunking your chip shots and start excelling around the green with our short game expert's advice on how to improve your contact with the golf ball
Alex Buckner
Chunking chip shots... we've all been there. You step up to the golf ball with a clear plan in your head, but the same soul-destroying fault strikes again. Your ball has travelled a matter of feet, if you're lucky, and your pride has taken a bit of a beating.
Improving your short game is a great way to cut your handicap in 2026, so let's start with this common mistake that plagues the game of high-handicap golfers.
In this article, Top 50 Coach Alex Buckner delivers a short game clinic that focuses on improving your contact with the golf ball around the greens, helping you to get up and down more often.
Alex currently coaches PGA Tour player Marco Penge, who ranks among the top-40 golfers in the world according to the Official World Golf Rankings, so is the perfect person to help you sharpen up your short game...
How To Stop Chunking Chip Shots In Golf
Golfers who ‘chunk' their chips – the dreaded heavy contact – have a tendency to get their low point too deep.
I see many poor chippers hunched over the ball; they become very low and ‘push' their arms, legs and body down, moving the low point into the ground.
When players adopt this very low and bent position, it's often because they think it gives them greater control, but in reality, it simply makes it easier for the club to enter deeper into the turf.
This hunched position is so common for high-handicap golfers but it leads to a low point that is too deep and ultimately chunking chip shots
By standing higher at address, you will prevent yourself from reaching down into the ground and it becomes much easier to clip the ball away cleanly.
Note, in the image below, how my arms are straighter with my hands pointing down. Because of this, you can stand a little closer to the ball.
Stand taller and a little closer to the ball at address to prevent chunking your chip shots
Notice also, in the image below, how tall I've remained throughout the shot, returning the shaft at the same height and angle.
To achieve this, make sure you don't lose height in the backswing and then push from the ground up on the downswing. Keep your thumbs pointing to the ground at impact.
Maintain height in the backswing and push from the ground up in the downswing
If you grip down, as many top players do to improve feel and control, don't bend too low when doing so. Bend too low and you're back to square one, making it easy to push the low point too deep into the ground.
What Does 'Chunking' Mean In Golf?
Chunking in golf is when you strike the ground significantly before the golf ball. This can also be referred to as 'fat' or 'heavy' contact, usually leading to the ball travelling a very short distance and not reaching your intended target.
Hitting chip shots fat is a fault you have to get rid of if you want to improve your handicap and scoring, so following Alex's expert advice is a must in the 2026 season.
