Instantly Improve Your Chipping By Eliminating 3 Common Mistakes

Chipping can either be your saving grace or your Achilles heel, but those who identify with the latter should be proactively looking to change that narrative.

It's possible to improve your short game in as little as 30 minutes, if you have the right advice, so this short game clinic could be exactly what you need to sharpen up around the greens.

Fixing common amateur mistakes is a standard day at the office for our Top 50 coaches, so I asked Ged Walters to step in and help you improve your chips shots...

3 Common Chipping Mistakes Amateurs Make And How To Fix Them

If you struggle with your chipping, chances are you make one of these three common mistakes.

This area of the game holds many amateurs back, but you can flip that narrative and turn it into one of your strengths with just a few simple changes.

By the end of this article, and with a little short game practice, you'll be wielding the wedge better than ever before.

1. It's Not A Full Swing

On greenside chips, many golfers make a swing which is very similar in style to their normal full swing.

The problem then is that the club bottoms out far too soon and you chunk it or get panicky and flick at it.

Here, in the image on the left, you shouldn't be standing the same distance away from the ball so won't have the same rotation and speed because of the changes required at set-up.

You should feel you're a bit more upright, with thumbs pointing down at the ground, the handle a little higher and the club travelling back in a straight line.

Here, you shouldn't be standing the same distance away from the ball so won't have the same rotation and speed because of the changes required at set-up.

You should feel you're a bit more upright, with thumbs pointing down at the ground, the handle a little higher and the club travelling back in a straight line.

2. Bad Lie In The Rough

If the ball is nestled down a little, how do you get the club to cut through the grass?

Well, you need to keep the club head a little more outside the hands on the takeaway to steepen the angle of attack and help promote the little bit of wrist hinge you need – it's only slight but will help you to pick the club up a little steeper (image above - right).

This then gives you a little bit more angle to unload into the rough, which will help the club head get through the grass a little more easily to pop the ball out.

3. Slopes

On upslopes you need to feel your body leaning into the slope.

On full swings we'd say to mirror the slope but around the green, most will enjoy more success leaning into the slope.

The club is almost deadened and stopped by its divot. If you try to get the club to travel up the slope and are leaning away from the ball, fats and thins will ensue as that's one of the reasons why we hit those shots in the first place.