CHIPPING DRILL – LEFT HAND ONLY

A drill to help hit solid chips

Hi, Robin here. Got a drill for anybody struggling with their contact in their chipping, in their pitching. One of the mental challenges for many golfers in short game is that they’re…you’re trying to get the ball in the air, so then we try to force that issue. We try to lift the ball in the air. Now, when that happens, the body stops, the left wrist breaks down, the right wrist works underneath. So we’re trying to lift the ball in the air and add loft to the club, but that will nearly always result in heavy contacts, thin contacts, generally speaking, per contact.

We’ve gotta trust that the loft of the club is going to do the work. Now, this might vary a little bit shot to shot, whether you’re hitting a pitch or chip and what kind of ball flight you’re trying to hit, but a very common look with people who chip and pitch well, is just post impact, the left arm and the club shaft look in a fairly straight line. Okay, if you’re…somebody’s trying to chip and hit a little bit of a lower shot, that might look a little more this way, or somebody’s trying to hit a little bit higher than normal, the club head might pass the hands, but as a general rule, if you got the club shaft and your left arm lined up just post-impact, you’re not really going to struggle with your contact.

The drill is really simple. If you’re struggling with your body stopping and the club passing your hands too early, simply do a little bit of practice with your left hand only. Put your right hand on your shoulder, just for a little support, and just practice hitting some shots left hand only. You’ll start to feel how your left wrist is a little more stable, your body keeps turning, and that all important club shaft and left arm lined up through the ball.

Now like most things, it’ll be new. You might struggle at the start. Don’t give up on it. Keep doing it until you feel like you’re…you can do it quite well, and then simply put your right hand back on and try to feel the same movement of your left side, same feeling in your left wrist through the impact zone and through into that post-impact position where you’re getting things lined up.

So I say, simple drill, left hand only. Keep doing it till you think you’re proficient at it. Put both hands on…back on the club and see if you can repeat the same movement, the same feeling. As always, hope it helps. Until next time, thanks for watching.