The Professional Touch

Identifying your landing area – and visualising the ball running to the hole from that point on the green – is the tour player’s secret to getting up and down. And you will immediately simplify your chipping strategy if you follow their example

There is nothing more satisfying than surveying a chip shot, identifying a safe landing area within a yard or two of the edge of the green, and then selecting the club that lands the ball on that point for it to check and roll out like a putt toward the flag. It’s a skill that can save you a handful of shots in a round of golf – and one that can be practised and honed in a relatively short time.

Size it all up – the lie determines the club

The first thing you have to consider on just about every shot is the lie of the ball – if you get unlucky around the green and find your ball is in thick rough or an old divot you are pretty much forced into taking a lofted club and using a fairly steep angle of attack to get the ball up and out – and your expectations have to be adjusted accordingly. But assuming a half-decent lie, you have options – and the key is to identify the club that simplifies the shot as far as possible. The art of choosing the right club boils down to practice and experience to understand how the varying loft through the iron swill affect flight and roll. But here’s a basic guide:

• 7 iron – one third flight, two thirds roll 

• 9 iron – half flight, half roll 

• Sand wedge – two thirds flight, one third roll

Once you have decided the landing point and selected a club then make a practice swing to get a feel for the shot. Remember, your job is to hit to the landing point so focus your attention on this point and not on the flag. Trust your decision is correct. If the shot lands accurately with the right flight, it will go close.

Practice tip: As I am doing here, if you get the chance to work around a green, place a towel a couple of yards onto the surface and focus on landing the ball on that point – it’s that control over landing distance that counts.

A useful mantra to helping you achieve a good set-up position for the regular chip shot is: “Ball back, hands forward, weight forward”. Repeat that as you place your feet comfortably together to create your stance and settle your body with your weight favouring the forward foot. Playing the ball opposite the inside of the back heel, the clubshaft will lean gently toward the target as you allow your arms to hang and make a good grip. Essentially, you have pre-set a good impact position, one you will find and repeat consistently if you allow the stroke to be governed by the movement of the upper body, hands passive