Hey Golf Nut, I really struggle around the green with my chipping. I’ve tried using different golf clubs, stances, and even putting from a lot of weird places. Do you have any good golf tips for chipping?

One of the keys to scoring in golf is how many strokes it takes you to get up and down from 20 feet in. I’ve seen golfers spend a lot of time and money on this frustrating part of the game. Expensive golf schools, golf lessons, golf training aids, even putting in their own putting green in the back yard. And I’m not saying that any of those are bad. But before you spend a ton of money on those, I have a couple of golf tips.

First, my experience is that chipping is a lot of feel and creativity. Let’s talk about creativity first. You’ll hear TV commentators talk about Tiger and his creativity in creating golf shots. Well, we all won’t be able to turn ourselves into Tiger. But we can do a little practice tip that I picked up that will help you visualize shots better. When you are practicing your chipping, take several golf balls (4-7) and toss them from different points around the green. Also toss them from different heights, some low and some high. Watch how the ball lands, bounces, and rolls after landing. This will give you a much better feel for how the golf ball will react in different situations and from different shots. I think that this is an excellent tip for starting to develop a feel for how to pick what type of chip shot works best in different situations. The more you practice this on the golf course, the better you will become at this.

Now for feel or touch. A golf pro once showed me a simple drill for getting a better handle on feeling your chip shots. Similar to the toss drill above, take several golf balls from different points around the green. But instead of tossing them, try short chips with your eyes closed. You can try it with several different golf clubs as well. You aren’t trying to hit specific shots or master a particular stroke. You are just trying to think and develop more awareness of your touch than a pure focus on golf swing mechanics. After each shot, note carry of the golf ball, roll, and direction. Keep practicing until you are actually trying to control these factors with your eyes closed. You should see an improvement in your chipping consistency.