Hello, Daily Duffer readers! Sarah Chen here, your golf instruction editor. As a PGA-certified instructor with over 15 years of experience, I’ve had the privilege of working with golfers at every level, from weekend enthusiasts to tour professionals. One truth has consistently stood out: with the right guidance and dedication, anyone can improve. Today, we’re diving into a crucial area that often holds the key to unlocking lower scores: your short game.
It’s a common refrain among instructors, and for good reason: if you want to shave strokes off your game quickly, look to your chipping and pitching. This is what we call the “low hanging fruit” in golf, and it’s where significant improvement is often just a few focused adjustments away.
Mastering Your Short Game Setup
Every great shot starts with a great setup. For chipping and pitching, your stance and ball position are foundational.
- Feet Positioning: For chip shots, keep your feet close together, perhaps a clubhead’s width apart. This encourages a more compact, pendulum-like motion. For pitch shots, you’ll want a slightly wider stance, providing more stability for a longer swing.
- Weight Distribution: This is critical! For all short game shots, you should feel 60-70% of your weight on your lead foot. This pre-sets your body to make ball-first contact, which is essential for crisp chips and pitches.
- Ball Position: With chips, place the ball slightly back of center in your stance. For pitches, aim for a more centered ball position. This slight adjustment helps control trajectory and contact.
- Hands Ahead: Your hands should be slightly ahead of the ball, creating a descending blow. This ensures you strike the ball before the turf, leading to clean contact and predictable trajectory.
The source article emphasizes the importance of body position, particularly your shirt buttons, in achieving proper contact:
“But with short game shots, if the button line is angled slightly toward the target, it becomes much easier to make ball first contact as we have moved the low point of the abbreviated swing to the target side of the ball.”
This simple checkpoint helps you ensure your weight and body are correctly aligned to compress the ball effectively.
The “Y” and “L” of Motion
When it comes to the swing itself, visualizing certain shapes can simplify your motion dramatically.
- For Chips (The “Y”): In your setup, your arms and the club shaft should form the letter “Y.” For a chip shot, it’s crucial to maintain this “Y” shape throughout the entire swing. This keeps your wrists stable and minimizes unwanted movement, ensuring clean, predictable contact.
- For Pitches (The “L”): For pitch shots, where you need a bit more power and height, we introduce a wrist hinge. Focus on creating an “L” shape between your lead arm and the club shaft at the top of your abbreviated backswing, and again in your through-swing.
“I always want to see the backswing and through swing lengths to be the same. And this goes with every shot in golf from a full swing with the driver to a 3-inch tap-in.”
This principle of equal backswing and through-swing length is vital for maintaining balance and controlling distance, regardless of the shot.
Rotation, Not Scooping
One of the most common pitfalls I see with higher handicappers in the short game is a lack of body rotation. When your chest stalls in the downswing, it leads to a “scooping” motion, which creates inconsistent contact, thin shots, and fat shots. It’s the short game equivalent of “casting” in the full swing.
“So even on a chip shot where you are only flying the ball less than 10 yards in the air, we still need to have some amount of chest rotation through the impact zone.”
Even on the smallest chip, think about your chest rotating through the ball towards your target. This rotational movement helps bring the club through impact powerfully and consistently.
Actionable Drills for Your Practice
Ready to put these concepts into action? Here are a few drills you can try:
1. The “Y” Chip Drill:
- Setup: Take your chipping setup – feet close, weight 60-70% on front foot, ball slightly back. Form the “Y” with your arms and club.
- Motion: Place a headcover or small towel under your lead armpit. Make small, pendulum swings, keeping the headcover pinned. The goal is to maintain that “Y” throughout your backswing and through-swing, ensuring minimal wrist hinge. If the headcover drops, you’ve broken the “Y.”
- Why it works: This drill stabilizes your wrists and teaches you to swing with your shoulders and core, preventing scooping and promoting consistent contact.
2. The “L” Pitching Drill:
- Setup: Take your pitching setup – slightly wider stance, weight 60-70% on front foot, ball centered.
- Motion: Take a normal pitching backswing, focusing on creating that “L” shape with your lead arm and the club shaft at the top. Hold for a second. Now, swing through, aiming to create another “L” shape on the follow-through, with your club shaft pointing towards the target and your lead arm straight. Your backswing and through-swing should feel equal in length.
- Why it works: This drill helps you sense the proper amount of wrist hinge for controlled pitch shots and emphasizes a balanced, symmetrical swing for better distance control.
3. Shirt Button Rotation Drill:
- Setup: Set up for a chip shot, ensuring your lead-shoulder buttons are slightly angled towards the target.
- Motion: As you swing, focus on keeping your chest rotating through the shot so that your buttons finish facing the target. Avoid letting your chest “stall” or point to the right (for a right-handed golfer) at impact.
- Why it works: This drill promotes active body rotation through the impact zone, preventing the dreaded scoop and ensuring you make ball-first contact with power and accuracy.
Club Selection and Distance Control
Don’t be afraid to experiment with different clubs around the green. As the article rightly points out:
“When it comes to club selection, always remember that the less loft you use the less risk you take.”
Consider using a pitching wedge, 9-iron, or even a hybrid for bump-and-run chips. The lower loft means less chance of error and a more predictable roll. For pitch shots, practicing a “clock system” can be incredibly effective. Use your lead arm to gauge the length of your backswing (e.g., 9 o’clock for a shorter pitch, 10 o’clock for a longer one) and calibrate your distances. This only works with solid contact, so make sure your fundamentals are sound!
Remember, the path to a better short game, and a better golf game overall, is paved with consistent, challenging practice. As Nick Saban often said, “We make practice hard so games will be easy.” Embrace the challenge, enjoy the process, and you’ll be amazed at the improvements you’ll see around the green. Keep practicing, and I’ll see you on the course!
