The short game is where a lot of shots get wasted and I would recommend that whenever you can keep the ball low to the ground, do so. The high floating, Phil Mickelson like flop shot is the sexy one, but unless you are very confident and very competent, you could end up further away from the hole after you have played the shot than you were before you played the shot.
So my favourite shot is the good old chip, the low running shot using a 7 iron, which is so much less likely to go wrong for you.
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Picture 1 shows you how to set up for this shot. Lean the body weight onto your left side by pushing your hands slightly ahead of the ball at address. I am an advocate of placing the ball towards the left of centre of the stance, the old style of thinking would get the ball position placed off the right foot, this I find makes it difficult to attack the ball at the correct angle, but I would recommend that you muck about with this and find out what works best for you individually |
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You will often read that this shot should be played with an open stance, which is quite right but what I normally see is a massive over exaggeration of this so the person is almost standing sideways on to hit the ball. I would recommend that you stand as you would normally do, then pull your left foot back 3 inches, that is a sufficiently open stance for this shot.Picture 2. |
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The leaning of your weight onto the left foot is intended to create a descending blow on the back of the ball that is what gets the club to the bottom of the ball and allows the limited loft of the 7 iron to do its job of lifting the ball, maximum knee high, into the air. I have written a separate tip on the evil phrase “ I have to get under the ball” so I won’t go into that just now, but the golf club is brilliantly designed to elevate a golf ball into the air, it need precious little help from you. |
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Picture 3 (above) shows the all important follow through position that is what causes most people to find this shot more difficult. It is imperative not to let the wrist flick the ball up into the air, why you would want to flick it into the air I don’t understand as you have chosen this shot and this club specifically not to get too elevation on the ball, but still the scoop, see picture 4, is the normal error and this will always cause the ball to shoot along the floor. |
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Try shoving the butt end of the golf club up your jumper, picture 5, this works a treat as you either improve your chipping by eradicating the scoop and flick action at the end of the swing, or you rip a perfectly good jumper, your choice. |
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