Are you losing strokes because of poor chipping? Most golfers focus on their long game but ignore their short game. In this episode, we’ll show you why that’s a huge mistake—and how to fix it!
Wanna make a bet? I’ll be willing to bet that right now, this very moment that you are listening, if I told you to go to the nearest driving range, put the ball down on the grass, and take your favorite wedge that you chip with and take your normal, comfortable, default chip swing…just your natural chip shot, ½ swing, ¾ swing, whatever. This is the shot that you would make if you didn’t have a target and you want to just warm up your chipping to get a feel. You would hit 2 or 3 the same way. And it would probably land around the same area without you even thinking about it. I bet you don’t know how far you just hit. Not to the exact yard, but approximately, maybe like plus/minus 3-5 yards, let’s say. Have you ever measured it?
But I am also willing to bet that you have a pretty good idea how far your 7 iron goes…plus/minus five yards, your 8 iron, your 5 iron even…and I bet you even measured how far you can hit your driver as welll. You actually might know that to the yard. In fact, you might know the longest distance you drove it the last round as well as your average.
Am I right about the chip shot yardage? If not, you are a small percentage of golfers that have figured it out. You are a small percentage of the elite or on your way to being an elite golfer…I am so proud of you.
What’s my point? My point is that most of us don’t give a crap about our chipping game as we should. Well, let me take that back. Maybe you give a crap but…you don’t show it.
How do I know? Because I am the same way. When I see someone chipping on a driving range, I think to myself, yo, you are wasting your money right now; save those precious range balls for real swing practice…learning to hit your mid irons pure, practice something that really matters…figuring out how to not slice your driver, figure out how to hit your 3 wood off the perfect lie straight and long so you get your eagle opportunity on a par 5, figure out how to hit that 6 iron consistent and long. You gotta figure that out first to start scoring low. WRONG!
It’s quite the opposite. In this episode, I am going to help you to completely flip your thinking to realizing that playing better golf is anchored on your chipping game, not anything else. And I know you’ve heard this many times before. But I am also going to tell you why you don’t actually believe it. Because if you did, you would be working on your chipping game more than anything else, and you don’t. You really don’t. And you know what? They don’t want you to get better either? Who’s they? You know…them. Those people that design golf courses and run pro shops. The money is in selling range balls and tee times…and yes, practice greens don’t make money are a necessity, but most of them have “no chipping” signs on them. How many courses really dedicate their facilities to the most important practice of all…the chipping greens? There are very few courses that offer that; why? Because maybe they don’t believe it’s that crucial for bettering our game.
But I am telling you this, a great golfer must not only accept the significance, power, and value of the chipping game, but a great golfer must learn to relish and be obsessed with getting the ball into the hole more than a mere pure ball-striking skill. You have go be more obsessed with getting that ball into the hole than hitting your mid-irons pure.