- Hi Adam Bazalgette here,
founder of Scratch Golf Academy.
Today's subject, how to chip,
specifically though for beginners.
(upbeat music)
So how to chip for beginners.
I'll show you a few things in this video
I think will make it simple,
help you to make good contact with the ball.
A few principles that hopefully will make it easier for you.
Even if you're just struggling with your chipping,
hopefully this will be helpful to you.
If you like the video,
please subscribe to the channel here at YouTube.
Have a lot of content.
ScratchGolfAcademy.com is my home website,
lots of content for you there.
Okay, let's get started.
(club taps) (ball thumps)
So let's assume this is a chip.
A chip is a pretty much a running shot near the green.
A pitch would be a bigger shot
where you're typically using a more lofted club.
Not gonna get into that now.
Let's assume one other thing as well,
and that is we have a pretty clean good lie.
I have a perfect lie here.
We're not digging it out of a rough
or out of any unconventional situation.
(club taps) (ball thumps)
Now as you're getting started
around the green as a newer golfer
or as someone just trying to build some confidence,
I'd recommend have two favorite clubs.
One, you're most lofted club, could be sand or lob wedge.
That's the one you'd need
to get over something and stop the ball.
But for your basic chipping club, something less lofted.
I've chosen a 9-iron.
I think that's a good kind of middle-of-the-road choice.
It could be eight, could be wedge.
Get to know that club.
Get to know how it feels,
how to make contact with it,
and most importantly, how the ball reacts off the club.
Once you're really good with it,
you can branch out and try some other clubs,
but I think you'll get more confidence that way.
As we start to look at the setup itself,
very, very important that you remember
wherever your body center is in a chip,
generally speaking is about where the bottom
of that swing will be before starting up.
We want that just a little in front of the ball,
so make sure as you begin to build your setup,
plumb-bob from your shirt buttons,
that's about your body center.
And I can see for me here that
that's just a little bit in front of the ball.
As I say, it makes the difference
in how the club bottoms out and interacts with the turf.
Now the sure way to know if you're in the right relationship
to the ball with your center
is that if you make a few practice strokes next to the ball,
your bottom out point should be more here.
Now certainly you may skid onto the grass
a fraction coming into the ball,
but the real bottom out point is about there,
and I should be able to do that with literally no effort
again, if I'm set up properly.
Now another way you can make this shot simpler
is by going with something closer to one lever.
And what I mean by that is
the shaft more lined up with the forearms.
It doesn't have to be precisely lined up
with the forearms, but more or less,
and that will mean that you'll probably grip it
a little more in the palms of the hands,
less down in the fingers.
And what that does is it just adds stability.
As the body moves back and forward,
it's a much more stable unit.
When you add a bend in there, there's a lot more mobility.
Good for speed, not so good for stability.
Let's try one here.
It feels like the club's a little taller.
(club taps) (ball thumps)
Now you may find when you do this
that the club will be slightly up on its toe
with the heel off the ground.
That's okay, a little bit of that won't hurt you,
and you can adjust this to suit your own taste.
Just get a feel for it that feels stable to you.
Make sure though, when you lift the club up a little bit,
you don't lift your arms and shoulders,
create tension there.
Stay nice and relaxed and just get the club up a bit
where it feels nice and firm.
So continuing the setup here,
make sure your shorten down on the club.
You've got the look that we had from that angle.
We've talked about the shirt buttons.
Get your feet nice and close together,
and at your discretion, maybe turn them in
and preset them a little bit for impact there.
Just makes it a little simpler to have a good impact.
I like that feel.
There's my relationship.
Now I feel like I'm really in my impact position.
And before you hit any shots
when you're out on the golf course,
just get several strokes just to rehearse it.
Not only the contact with the ground and the motion,
but of course the feeling you think you'll need
to get the right speed.
And in terms of the motion,
best thought you can have is
it's more like a putting stroke.
Use your trunk and let the club just respond
to that back and forth.
Make sure though, as you do it, you're not wooden or stiff.
Relax your arms a little bit, get soft,
and get a little feel in there,
but it's very much more of a body stroke,
not a hand stroke.
And once you're confident, go ahead and get set up.
(club taps)
Just make your stroke.
Solid contact, pretty easy.
So let's try one more shot here.
Going to get my setup there,
nice and relaxed, club up a little bit.
I feel I'm in a good relationship to the ball.
And again, I can just feel the simplicity of that motion,
the economy of the motion.
And just gonna try to give it a little
(club taps)
bump onto the green there.
They're really not super difficult shots.
Once you've got some confidence in that,
once contact is established
and you know the shot will branch out,
maybe include another chipping club in your repertoire
or maybe adjust style a little bit for different situations.
I hope that was helpful for you, how to chip for beginners.
Hopefully that gets you off on the right foot
and you can go practice that stuff
and then make progress and branch out
a little bit from there.
Again, if you liked the video,
please subscribe to the channel.
Would love to have you go to ScratchGolfAcademy.com,
have full courses in everything there, including chipping,
and would love it if you'd check that out.
Thanks for watching the video.