The secret to great chipping lies in controlling your swing’s low point. It’s a topic that has sparked heated debates among teachers, and a skill pros have mastered. They know how to dial in their low point and move it around on command.
To understand what low point is: every golf swing creates an arc, and somewhere along that arc, your clubhead hits both the ball and the ground. That’s your low point. Often, the low point will align with the middle of your chest. So, as a general (but imperfect) rule of thumb, use that to determine where the low point of your golf swing is. If your chest is behind the ball, so is your golf swing’s low point. If it’s in front, so is your low point.
Coaches tell golfers to move the ball position up in their stance when hitting a driver because it puts their low point further behind the ball. That allows the club to bottom out before hitting the ball on the upswing.
But around the greens, better players consistently position their low point further forward and more ahead of the ball than average golfers. This allows them to hit down on the ball more effectively. This creates better contact and more spin control.
Key setup adjustments
If we look at Spieth’s technique on a low-flight, spinning chip, you can see some changes he makes to move the low point of his golf swing more ahead of the ball:
- Narrows his stance
- Positions the ball back in his stance
- Gets his hands forward
- Puts most of his weight on his front leg
For a higher, floating chip shot, Spieth moves the ball position slightly forward. Again, you can see him do this with setup changes:
- Widens his stance
- Moves the ball position more forward
- Makes a gentler shift towards the target during the backswing
One move the pros use
After the setup, what separates elite chippers like Spieth from others is their dynamic movement towards the target during the backswing. On the backswing, Spieth and other great chippers will shift their body towards the target, then continue shifting towards the target on the downswing.
This move brings the low point even further forward, allowing golfers to hit even more severely down into the ball for good contact and better spin control. Viktor Hovland dramatically improved his short game after adopting this technique, and it’s a move amateur golfers can learn a lot from.
Ultimately, though, your ability to hit different shots around the greens comes down to managing your low point.
The further behind the ball the low point is, the more you’ll hit up on the ball. The further forward your low point, the more you’ll hit down on the ball. Combined with a high-lofted club, this creates the spin you need for better control around the greens.
