"15 Minutes of Body Action Drills Are More
Important Than Hitting 200 Balls"
Tom's Featured Tip: The Long Chip Shot
Lesson Comments: What Students Have To Say
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The Long Chip Shot
The Best Training Aid For Indoor or Outdoor Practice
The Divot Board
This is the most useful ball striking development training aid that I own.
The Long Chip Shot
For simplicity, all advice on actual swings or drills is provided from a right handed perspective.
I was having a conversation with one of my top level students about the difficulty many power players have with a very short shot, in the 50 yard range. They often have trouble executing that swing because they have been blessed with so much lag in their natural swing that they either have trouble switching the "lag" switch off or have never been taught how or why to do it.
You can't have a lot power without a lot of lag. But when power swingers try to slow down their swing for a very short shot they often turn the face over prematurely through impact and pull the shot left, or they stop their shoulder rotation completely at impact and hit the shot fat.
De-training the lag in your swing is necessary to hit short but sweet shots that go the distance with a low trajectory and sufficient spin. What you are doing is taking a short pitch shot, which requires a lot of precision and practice, and turning it in to a long chip shot with dead hands.
The Long Chip Shot
One of the most critical components of the long chip shot is that your hands should be in the impact fix position at setup, and that you should have about 80% of your weight feathered onto your front side. Here's what your hands should look like prior to your takeaway:
You end up addressing the ball with your hands in the position in the photo above, the impact fix position.
The stroke technique is to rock the shoulders back to the length of the swing you want, maintaining the wrist positions that you had at setup above. Then a very slight weight bump forward initiates the downswing sequence which is executed with no wrist lag. It feels like you are pulling and turning, and the precise wrist positions that were established at setup are maintained through impact into your follow through with no clubface rotation and no wrist breakdown. The face is held square to your inside to inside swing path.
This swing can be executed to any swing length that moves to a point in the backswing that stops just before your wrists start to hinge. When the wrists hinge, it is no longer the long chip shot, it then becomes a pitch shot - with a different trajectory and different spin.
It's a one third to one half backswing length shot, with a normal crisp downswing pace through the ball. Don't try to swing slower to hit the ball shorter. Instead develop this swing technique with different clubs - mostly, but not always - wedges, to cover different distances. Keep your downswing crisp with every swing.
This swing will produce a medium to low trajectory shot with sufficient spin to stop the ball after a couple of hops if you are using a spin ball, have good technique, and sufficient pace in your downswing.
The good news is that compared to a pitch shot, the long chip shot is easier to learn and control, it has a better chance of actually going in the hole, and your misses will be closer to the hole than misses with a pitch shot technique.
There's a time and place for a high 50 yard pitch shot, but if you have a choice between the pitch and the long chip, the long chip may be the better option. It's a very reliable shot, not too many moving parts, and you'll learn it quickly. I think you'll learn to love it quickly.
Learn this shot as an alternative to the 50 yard pitch shot, and I'm sure you'll increase your up and down percentage from that distance.
Try it you'll like it.
My winter lesson schedule will be starting soon, I'll keep you posted.
Email Comments: to TomTuckerGolf@gmail.com
Mike Bennett and Andy Plummer, The Stack and Tilt Swing
Love your practice, own your swing, own your health, and remember that golf is a game of discovery. Dont be afraid to experiment when you practice, it's good for your golfing brain.
Tom
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Buying a sponsored product through any of my affiliate links helps support this free newsletter, and I only affiliate with excellent products that I use myself. Thanks, Tom
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Club Champion Don't waste another dollar on clubs until you've gone through a fitting at Club Champion, 1669 Pittsford Victor Rd., Suite 400, Victor NY 14564. Call Master Fitter & Builder Jeff St. John. PGA work: (585) 978-8513, cell: (585) 831-2292 to schedule your fitting today1 Mention my name and you'll get special attention.
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All the best,
Tom Tucker
Teaching Professional, Batavia Country Club
WGTF ' "Top 100 Golf Teacher"
USGTF Class "A" Teaching Professional
IGPA Certified Golf Psychology Coach
Cell: (716) 474-3005
Email: TomTuckerGolf@gmail.com
http://www.TomTuckerGolf.com
"There are no substitutes in the quest for perfection1"
~ Ben Hogan