With the proper mental preparation you can chip as good as the pros every time.
What are you thinking about as you prepare for your chip shot. Think seriously about this, what exactly are you thinking?
Probably you have in your mind the words of your instructor,” hit down on the ball” or perhaps “hold the hands forward” or create a slight wrist cock. Good advice at times but why are you reading this article? Because good advice of this sort is mechanical that only works under perfect conditions which are proper mental conditioning and lots of practice.
You are still looking for a solution because you are simply not able to chip that tiny little golf ball consistently in spite of all the good advice.
A big problem with some instructors is that they go by the book, they teach you the things you have to do but they don't really tell you the things that you shouldn't do. By adding more and more mechanical techniques they add to your confusion and your golf game suffers.
You are still fluffing it, sculling it, shanking it topping it and generally lacking the precision needed for a consistent quality shot.
More than likely you are thinking thoughts of uncertainty and feeling insecure because your experiences of past flubs are circumspect. You just aren't sure of yourself in this situation.
Let's fix that for you now once and for all.
Golf is a mental game; fix the problem mentally. But in order to fix a problem you must first identify the real causes of your lack of success.
Has anyone ever told you the problem with poor chipping is lack of body discipline and uncontrolled movement? I watched the pros and I studied their body discipline and saw poetry in motion so to speak. In contrast I studied hundreds of amateurs and guess what the difference was compared to the professionals.
In most cases they were dancing as they hit the ball, yes dancing. They weren't all dancing to the same tune because the movements were different. They were following the instructions to the letter, perfect grip, hands a little advanced, hit down on the ball, etc, etc, but they were flubbing the ball and shanking it and if they did succeed to make a decent chip shot they still left themselves long unattractive putts.
Here's what the common error is, I call it dancing but in reality it is the inability to stay still and locked in during the four stages of the motion, swing back, swing forward, hit the ball and follow through. For chipping the legs should not follow the rhythm of the swing but they naturally do both with the backswing and follow through resulting in all the aforementioned problems.
Since golf is a mental game here is the fix you need to make perfect chips every time.
I'm not going to give you any mechanical tips, if you are a golfer reading this you have all the mechanics you need to know so from this point on it's your mental approach that is going to be fixed.
Here is the mental picture you have to establish and indelibly imprint in your sub conscious mind. After a while it will become automatic and the results will be amazing. You only have to do this to prove to your self that it really works.
With a pitching wedge in your hand standing over the ball mentally nail the toe of your left shoe and then the toe of your right shoe into the ground solidly with a hammer. Mentally try to move your feet but find that you can't budge them, they are locked.
At the same time imagine your knees being strapped tightly to an upright post. Mentally try to move them either way but find them locked in an unmovable position.
With this mental picture being developed and respected make the chip. It may take a little time if you have a thick skull but persevere and the results will come. Keeping the legs and feet under control is the solution to practically all chipping problems and a key to making your golf buddies jealous at your greatly improved short game.
Good golfing!
