Golf Chipping Technique – Tips to Improve Golf Chipping for Beginners

Even great professional golfers will often miss the green in their longer strokes with the ball landing just outside the greens. For a golf beginner, it is therefore useful to learn the right golf chipping technique to excel in the short game of chipping the golf ball from just outside the putting green surface.

Although the golf chipping is a short stroke similar to the putting stroke, but unlike the golf putting, you need a lofted club to enable you to send the ball into the air in a low trajectory, before it hit the putting surface and roll into the hole. The idea is to assess the distance the trajectory of the ball will cover to the landing point on the green smooth surface.

Hence, if you are novice golfer, there are a few tips you should know to help to guide you into improving your chipping technique. These pointers are listed below:-

1. Prior to the stroke you should visualize the flight and roll of the ball to determine where you want the ball to land on the putting surface so that it will roll the distance and along the correct line to the hole.

2. Check the way the ball is laying on the grass outside the putting green.

3. Choose the right lofted club with the right pitching wedge. Select a club that provides a minimum air time and maximum ground time. It is easier to judge the rolling distance of the ball than trying to land the ball in hole when you are outside the putting surface.

4. The basic chipping stroke and stance is similar to the putting stroke, except that your feet shall be closer to the ball. Keep your body relatively still and your wrists stiff as in putting. Your grip is such that both the palms of your hands are facing each other. On the backstroke, allow the club head to come off the ground more abruptly than in a putting stroke, letting the club head strike down on the ball with minimal follow through. When you set up to the ball, concentrate only on hitting with the firmness necessary to land it on the spot on the green you have picked up.

5. Practice the technique mentioned above on the practice green using clubs with the different lofts for various distance from the hole. Unlike the longer golf swing stroke, you will not be able to practice the chipping shot in the driving range.

As mentioned above even the best players often miss the green with their longer strokes, therefore been competent in the golf chipping technique is an important aspect of a golf beginner’s training. The ability to chip the ball to roll near to the hole can make up for the deficiency in the long shots to improve your score in the game.