Techniques for Consistent Golf Chipping

If you're looking to improve your golf chipping choose a generic chip shot and hit it over and over until you feel successful, not only with your distance control but also your direction. Find a spot just off the edge of the green, where you have a relatively good lie that will give you one-third of your distance to your landing area and two-thirds for roll to the target. This will require a pitching wedge. Repeat the shot until you have a strong sense of the size and tempo of the stroke necessary for your success.

Once you have a good feel for that desired motion, switch to a quality goal. Quality goals will help you to increase your consistency on the course. By applying meaning and pressure to your practice session, you are better prepared to handle the same pressure you will experience on the golf course, when it counts.

For example, your quality goal may be to chip nine out of ten balls within a four foot circle of the hole. Do not stop your practice until you accomplish this goal. So what will happen once you acquire the eighth ball and you have already missed one? Now you have the pressure that you experience every day on the golf course. You are practicing with purpose and with accountability for your actions. If your goal is too easily accomplished, increase the difficulty.

Selecting One Club to Different Targets:

Choose one club and practice your chipping to different targets. This will help you learn to control your distance by varying the size of your golf stroke.

What if you decide to achieve chipping with your sand wedge, which will commonly be half carry and half roll. If you're practicing on a green that is flat, attempt to land your golf ball halfway to the target. Suppose the green is uphill; then you should land the ball past halfway; downhill, you should land short of halfway to accommodate the slope.

Make your preparation mimic what you would do on the golf course. Take your practice strokes while looking at your landing spot, which in this case is halfway to the cup.

When you begin feeling somewhat successful chipping to various targets with the same club, switch to a quality goal to help you increase your on-course consistency. Try chipping eight balls in a row within four feet of alternating holes. This will help you learn to alter your stroke for varying distances, as will be necessary on the golf course.

When doing this drill, you may find that the sand wedge works better for some targets than to others. This will also help you to understand how the ball reacts and help you with on course club selection.

Vary the club that you choose for this drill, so that you practice with all of your clubs over time. If selecting a club with smaller loft, a 6 iron for example, you may find that this club is difficult for your shorter chips because of the higher percentage of roll.

To continue to improve, practice and increase the difficulty of your goals as you accomplish them.