Chip, Pitch, Splash

Take it from me, short game practice is the quickest route to shooting lower scores. The vast majority of the shots that you hit in a typical round are from within 100 yards of the hole, and so it follows that the extra effort you put into your short game will produce big dividends in terms of cutting your handicap. 

That's simple logic and - perhaps more importantly - a huge return for little effort on your part.

As attractive as that prospect sounds, however, working on the short game just isn't regarded as sexy when compared to smashing drivers into the middle distance. 

The talk in the bar is usually all about the guy who hit the par-5 in two, or who hit an enormous drive round the corner of the dogleg, even if he ended up three putting.

Funny how the guy who hit three shots onto the green and holed the putt rarely rates a mention.

It isn't for me to tell you how to spend the limited amount of time you have for practice. And yes, I understand that chipping, pitching and putting may not quite hold the allure of launching your latest titanium. But think of the benefits.

A tight short game helps you play well; it helps you to score even when you play badly; it makes you consistently a better golfer. I don't know about you, but all of that sounds like a whole lot of fun to me...

Chip

Week-in, week-out, I see the same basic chipping error committed by at least one of my pro-am partners. Even before they attempt to play the shot, they are clearly thinking about lifting the ball up into the air. You can see it in the set-up. The usual symptoms are a dropping of the right shoulder and a shifting of weight on to the right side, away from the target (left). Pretty well the exact opposite of what you should be doing.

Look at it this way. The lowest part of your swing arc - i.e. where the clubhead strikes the ground - is always going to be directly below your sternum, which doubles as your centre of gravity. So all you have to do is create an address position that encourages the club to make contact with the ground directly under the ball. In other words, you need to set up with your sternum level with the ball. To do that, lean into your left side (let comfort determine the width of your stance) with as much as 90% of your weight on your left foot. Then leave it there throughout your swing.

If that proves difficult, try lifting your right foot all but off the ground at address so that only your big toe is touching. I often do that when I practise. You'll soon get a cleaner, crisper, more consistent strike on the ball.

I'm not someone who chips with the same club all the time. To me, that requires too much in-swing manipulation and is just another complication to what should be a simple shot. So I chip with anything and everything, from a lob-wedge to a 6-iron, depending on how high I want the ball to fly and how much I want it to run on landing. Work on that a bit.

Pick a spot on the practice green and, using each of your chipping clubs, aim to land the ball on that spot and see how far it runs out from that landing area.

Only the club changes - the technique doesn't. As you will discover, the more lofted the club you use, the less the ball will want to run out on the green. You have to use this information to figure out which club suits a certain situation on the course. In general, I recommend you get the ball on the deck as soon as possible. It's easier to hit a target spot that is near to you, playing a low runner, than it is aiming to fly the ball with a high lob.