Just a Chip Off the Old Block

How many of you have heard the phrase "chip off the old block?"  Do you actually know what it means?  When I looked it up online I found that it meant a person who resembles his father or acts the same as his father.  This seemed rather funny to me because I am acting as my father practicing my golf game so much.  I guess if the shoe fits, I should wear it :).

This week I focused a little on my short game.  I thought this meant I could practice both chipping and putting.  Wrong!  It took me a while to get the hang of chipping so we'll save putting for a later entry.  The good thing about chipping is you can really practice anywhere.  Most golf courses have a putting and chipping practice green that you can use.  The best part is it's free to practice there. Another great place you can easily practice is in your own backyard.  You could even grab a bucket and make it fun to try to get it into the target.  When I practiced, I used a 56 degree wedge otherwise known as a sand wedge.  Here are a few things I learned to help me when chipping...

1.  Always keep an open stance towards the pin/hole.  What I mean by this is that you will have your feet slightly facing outward.  It helps to keep your knees bent, your weight on your front foot and a closer distance to the ball.  I should probably have an even closer stance than I do below.

2.  NEVER bend your wrists! This was a BIG problem for me as I kept flicking them.  One solution to help is to roll over your lower hand, in my case it was my right, to help lock my left wrist.  Hopefully you can see what I mean in the picture below.  I found this link helpful to give me a few more pointers. 

3.  Play the ball as it lies.  You never know where your ball may land when actually playing so you should practice from several locations and distances.  You should also include shots from both short grass and tall grass.  I practiced from all sides of the pins aiming for different ones on different shots.   


Here is an example of how I spread out the balls.

 

Hopefully these few tips that I learned will improve your short game too!  As I stated earlier, I will be focusing on putting for my next entry.  Does anyone have any tips or suggestions for drills to get me started?