At the Dewsweepers Golf School and on the Dewsweepersgolfshow.com website it’s always a topic, “How can I improve my short game?” Well this week I am going to begin a 3 week series on how to improve your short game and lower your scores.

Chipping

Start with your wedges. Often times I find that players don’t have the right tool in their tool box. Make sure you have wedges with the right loft and bounce for your type of conditions and stroke.

Chipping is the first stroke we are going to look at. The basic chip and run shot is the bread and butter of your short game. It is essential to be able to perform this correctly. Here are the essentials to properly playing a chip and run shot.

First is set up: Since the stroke we are making is a small pivot motion we will not need a very big stance to support this motion. For chip and run shots start with your feet very close together and square to slightly open.

Place the ball position inside your rear foot. One thing I don’t like to see is feet that are angled toward the target or a ball position that is behind your stance.

Now move the club with your pivot motion but allow the club to swing more up and down. We want the path of the club to be high to low. Most Dewsweepers that struggle chipping swing the club low to high in an effort to scoop the ball.

Educated hands: allow the club the bump the ground in front of the ball and finish with your left or lead wrist flat and right or rear wrist bent. This will help insure solid contact and a ball that starts on line.

Make sure you finish with your hips open to the target and your chest or the buttons on your shirt as I like to say past the target. If you learn to use this setup and chipping motion you will on your way to better chips and more up and downs and I can bet your scores will end up much lower.