The secret to good ball striking is getting the club into a good impact position. Some secret anyone can figure that out. The secret is how can we get into a good position at impact? Is there a secret move I need to learn to improve my actions through impact? What we will learn is how to improve our ball striking, not by a secret tip or move, but by learning a fundemental skill.

The key to better impact and ball striking is to improve your chipping. This may sould silly but the fundementals of the chip shot sets the tone of how the golfer will progress from the putting stroke to the full swing. When new golfer begin taking lessons this the point where they begin to help the ball get airborne rather than letting the loft of the club do its job. The two most common move to get the ball airborne is to either scoop the ball with their hands (flipping motion) and falling onto their back foot. Let’s re-learn the fundemntals of chipping.

1) Stance
Keep your feet close together, say between 4 to 6 inched apart. Open your stance slightly in relation to the target line. Place more weight on the front leg

2) Ball Position
The ball must be played behind the center of the stance. Ideally near the back foot. The bottom of the swing will now be infront of the ball encouraging you to hit the ball before the club hits the ground.

3) Hands
How the hands set up is important. Keeping the club square to the target line move your hands so they are ahead of the ball. This creates a flat target hand and an angle between the wrist and back of the trail hand. This hand postion is very important because it mimics the position the hands are in at impact. Also notice how the shaft of the club leans towards the target.

4) Backswing
Depending on the length of the chip the backswing length will vary. As the club swings back the angle in the trail hand increases slightly as the wrist cocks and the target wrist remains flat. Most of your weight remains on the front leg

5) Downswing
Swing your arms forward and let the club hit the ball first then after impact the club can brush the ground. Keeping the target wrist flat and maintaining the angle with the trail hand.

6) Impact
The shaft of the club should still lean towards the target. By doing so it’s gauranteed that your hands have basically remained in the same position in chip swing motion. The loft of the club will create the appropriate lift for the ball. Most of your weight remains on the front leg.

7) Finish
Hands remain passive. Flat target hand and angle maintained in trail hand. Shaft still angled slightly towards target and hands have not passed the club head.

The two constants of the chipping swing motion are the pre-set hands and the weight remaining on the front leg. How the hands are pre-set in the chipping stroke will teach you a lot in how the hands should be at impact during the full swing. The flat target wrist and maintainingthe angle between the wrist and back of the trail hand and weight on our front leg during impact creates the proper angle of appraoch, improved contact, and optimal club speed. Flipping our hands or falling to the back foot before impact create instability in the club head, inconsistent and unpredicatble angle of appraoch, and decreased club speed.

Spend the extra time practicing the correct chipping motion. Not only will it improve your short game and score, it will improve the consistency in which the ball is struck with a full swing.