Best Golf Tips: How to improve your chipping with the ONE-HANDED Drill

Chipping is about judgement and feel, but it is also important to get your club in a good position on your backswing to connect perfectly with the ball.

Matt Chivers's picture
Tue, 25 May 2021
Best Golf Tips: How to improve your chipping with the ONE-HANDED Drill

GolfMagic went to see Lloyd Davies at Heyrose Golf Club in Knutsford to learn a great drill on how to improve your chipping.

Chipping is a vitally important part of your short game that you need to improve in order to save shots around the green and give yourself better chances of rolling in shorter putts.

A common problem that Lloyd notices with players is that when they bring the club back during a chipping stroke, they close the face and rotate their body too quickly.

This can lead to a chip shot that has less spin and can travel offline if the clubface is closed, so the one-handed drill is designed to combat this common issue.

 

As you can see in the above image on the left, Lloyd demonstrates that you should take your right hand away from the club, or your left hand if you are a lefthanded player, and take a steady backswing.

What you will find is that as you bring the club back, the face will be naturally open at the end of the backswing and this is a much better position to be in than when the clubface is shut, which is what Lloyd shows in the right-hand image.

With the clubface in a better, open position too, this will help with the amount of spin you generate on your chips as well. It is useful to take some practice swings with one hand before you hit your shot, just so you can feel comfortable with the drill.

It is also important to make sure that when you hit your shot, your follow-through should be an equal length to your backswing. This ensures that you have made a solid and steady stroke. 

Lloyd has been coaching now for over 15 years in Sussex and Surrey and has recently returned from Dubai, having coached at Arabian Ranches and Dubai Hills Golf Club for four years. He can be found on Instagram @lloydsgolfperformance. 

He has worked with European Tour players and enjoys coaching golfers of all abilities. The One-Handed Drill is an example of how your chipping technique can dramatically improve.

GOLFMAGIC INSTRUCTION SERIES 2021:

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