Article #89
To meet this week's teacher, or to purchase a copy of MUNIE ~ The Jitterbug Collection, go to www.bobbysteiner.com
Dear Jitterbug:
I tend to hit my chip shots high and short. I've read and heard from many different sources that chip shots are supposed to stay low to the ground. What might I do to bring them down?
Marcia Waldorf
Jitterbug Gang Fan
Jitterbug:
Too many golfers try to remedy the problem by clubbing up, that is, switching to a club that has less loft. And, while doing so may bring the flight of the ball down, it doesn't really address the cause.
If you tend to hit your chip shots higher than usual, the real cause has to do with the way in which you bring your club into impact. Some part of you is flipping. The flip shows up most often in the hands. Flippers allow the club to pass the hands very near the moment of impact. Good, keep-the-ball-low type chippers keep the hands ahead of the club-with the shaft of the club leaning toward the target-until well after impact. So, if this sounds like you, Marcia, I suggest you learn to lead the shot with your hands well in front of the clubhead.
Mr. Vaughn:
Flipping shows up in another form, too. I call it the "body flip." This is where, rather than flipping with the hands, the golfer attempts to lift the ball with a body that tilts away from the target. You see this in golfers who, just as the chipping stroke nears impact, move their head over their right foot. The consequence is less-than-crisp impact, usually a fat shot. And, even when the ball is hit crisply, it balloons up in and falls well short of the intended target.
The body flipper needs to lean his body left and stay there, so to allow the club to maintain a slightly descending path into the ball.
Lord Berry:
The late Mr. Harvey Penick used a drill to teach his students to keep chip shots low to the ground. Mr. Penick had his students drop their bags down flat three to four feet in front of them, on the target line, and ask that they chip firmly into their bags. This can't be accomplished without observing proper chipping form.