No Wrist Cock When Chipping

Thu, 11/01/2012 - 17:20 -- Don Trahan

Short game is a huge element of golf, which includes chipping around the green. If you want to keep your scores low, it's important to have a short game that compliments your long game. Unfortunately, many golfers lose a lot of strokes near the putting surface because they just don't practice it enough. I understand that many of you focus a lot of your time on the full swing, but when you've got a good grasp on it you need to shift focus to your short game. This is what Louie Kish has done, yet he asked a question about how to get started on the right track.

I've been using your swing technique for two years and playing very well, thank you (and two instructors out here in California). So now I have time to focus on the very short game. For short chip shots when I need a short, low running shot, I place the ball off my right foot (right handed golfer) and weight on front foot, clubface square with square body alignment. From that setup, which movement is more reliable and repeatable under pressure? Right arm bending and unbending, right wrist cocking, or arms and shoulders pivoting.
I'd first like to start by stating that you can actually chip any iron in your bag, depending on what the shot calls for. Most of you probably don't carry a 4 iron, but you could chip with it if you did. The idea here is that you want to chip the ball low and get it rolling on the green. This way, you can read the chip just like a putt and eliminate some of the guess work. 
 
As far as wrist cock, there should be absolutely none! The minute you start breaking your wrists, you're breaking the muscle tone in your arms and you start losing the touch and feel required for such a delicate shot. It helps some people to think about mimicking their putting stroke while chipping. Swinging straight back and straight through with no wrist cock is the feeling you should have over a chip shot.
 
Now, if you get your hands too far forward you're going to deloft the club so much that it puts backspin on the ball and it's going to start grabbing the green, which is something that you want to avoid in order to maintain control of the ball. Your hands should always remain directly under the sternum. Also, the less pivot the better because you don't want your angles to change in the middle of the shot. If you get the hands too far forward you're going to end up chopping down, which will cause you to chunk the ball.
 
As you get farther away from the green, you need to extend your drop point farther onto the green. This is because we don't want to land on the fringe because it could kick the ball forward and offline in any direction. This is all covered in great detail in the video I shot with former PGA Champion, Kenny Knox. You can check out Short Game, with Kenny Knox here.
 
Lastly, you have to remember to rotate the club toe up in order to avoid coming back with a shut clubface. However, do not cock your wrists in order to obtain this. It must be a natural rotation back and through while maintaining quiet knees for stability.
 
Hopefully this has helped you all understand the correct way to chip the ball. I can't stress enough how important your short game is, so please split your practice time evenly between the long game and short game. You'll see that you become a much better player around the green.
 
Keep it vertical!
 
The Surge

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Comments

kjmduke@aol.com's picture

Submitted by kjmduke@aol.com on

I can fully recommend the Kenny Knox videos for the short game. It provides a very simple process and I am getting very good results. It does require you to practice in order to get a feel of how the ball will roll with different clubs so that you can determine the best club for a situation. Once you get a sense of the motion, you will find that you can control the direction of the ball to your target with minimal swinging action. It reinforces Surge's rules of less angles and body movement to bring better results. I have even found the tips to chip out of the rough to be working and have even employed the technique for pitch shots from 40-100 yards. Good Luck. Kevin McCarthy

Dragonhead's picture

Submitted by Dragonhead on

This is probably the part of my game I don't have any problems with really. The reason for my subject heading, is this morning, my golf mate said in his email, that he needs more confidence etc with his chipping!!!
Would that I could transfer that to my woods. What is the problem? Simple, it is ME!!! As soon as I slow down my swing it all falls into place.Rush and it all turns to custard! So my old friends Ti-Ming and Tem-po are in for a real good workout or ten! Noted with the driver, for some unexplained reason, I end up through the ball with a rotational finish, with obvious results!!! As soon as I swing up in the BUS and up in the FUS, Bingo! Magic. So why on earth do I do it?????
On pitch shots with all the wedges, not a problem with length or accuracy. On chip shots I have little problem either. As soon as I get to the longer woods, hello! I speed up, boohooo! It is the one thing which is holding me back. Quit isn't in the equation. Will send today's video to my golf mate and get on with honing in the CORRECT tempo and timing myself. Glad Kevin is gaining from his Kenny Knox videos.
PS Yesterday with chips and putts from longer range, lipped out several times and hit the pin several times too : - ) On putting after checking I was coming through the ball on line and the ball rolled end over end without deviating at all. Every ball will now have a line around the equator to keep an eye on that. Good Luck to all. To those in the 'Sandy' region. God Bless and keep you all safe and may you return soon to the PPGS fold. DH

Robert Fleck's picture

Submitted by Robert Fleck on

Last time I played, I had both a personal wonderful example of this at work, and an example from a young guy I was playing with of what goes wrong with loose wrists.

The latter, this one young man I was playing with used almost entirely his wrists when chipping the ball, meaning that they broke both in his backswing and in his forward swing. Consequently, most of his chips hopped straight up and landed well short of his target with no roll.

On the other side, I was practicing the techniques from Surge and Kenny Knox, and on one hole I picked my spot a foot onto the green, knowing I was carrying the ball about 10 feet and having it roll out about 20, using my 52 degree wedge. Took a few practice swings for the feel, set up, swung, hit my spot on the money, rolled the ball right up and into the hole. Man that feels good.

Thanks, Surge, and thank you Kenny. :)

MikefromKy's picture

Submitted by MikefromKy on

This is mostly the way I approach the short game. But I do run into short shots around greens every once in awhile were I over shoot a green and short side myself were you have the flag 2 or 3 feet from the back edge of the green were the ball is 5 - 6 feet lower than the back of the green maybe 5-6 yard shot total all carry. On these shots I will pull lob wedge and and flip the hands through impact to get all loft and little carry and do very well hitting these shots you just have to practice them and may not work for everybody.

MikefromKy's picture

Submitted by MikefromKy on

Most Pro shops could order it if they do not stock it. You could get a 60 and have it delofted to 58 or buy a 56 and have it bent to 58. I am not sure about 11 degrees of bounce my new 60 and 56 have 10 degrees of bounce ordered them from ping or you could have DOC build it for you.

ckb.reh@gmail.com's picture

Submitted by ckb.reh@gmail.com on

First let me emphasize, I'm a huge fan and love the PPGS and all the tips. So much so, I often study the videos in slow motion or even frame by frame. It's rare, but every once in a while a video reveals a Surge swing detail that doesn't quite match the words. This is one. Surge, you cock your wrist on every chip in the video! This can be seen by closely watching the angles of the club shaft to your arms. I think good players like you can do this and it works. But it adds more motions to the swing that we average players already have trouble repeating consistently.

BTW, I'm trying to improve my chipping and I've been experimenting with some of the many different recommended techniques. For short and medium length chips, I've so far found that trying to duplicate my putting stroke exactly has given me the most consistent results. If any of you have never tried it, I suggest you do and see how it works for you.

Robert Fleck's picture

Submitted by Robert Fleck on

You're being tricked by an optical illusion. Surge does not cock his wrists at all in the video. What you are seeing is the result of rotating the arms.

As for your other comment, I wholeheartedly agree. Chips from near the green with room to run are, in my opinion, most often best played with whatever club has the loft to carry the ball just onto the green using your putting stroke for the appropriate distance of rollout. The other day when I was playing with two brothers, whose father was riding along but not playing, their dad and I both told the one brother to forget his pitching wedge and hit a particular chip with a six iron using his putting stroke. He came 6 inches from holing the shot from 40 feet away.

dmwheat4@comcast.net's picture

Submitted by dmwheat4@comcast.net on

Thanks Surge, that darn short game,,,,,what about longer chips, should weight still be on back leg, ( im right handed ) then forward. You said on really short shots weight on front leg somewhat. I have not really been doing that...hope it helps me get closer to the pin. I want my pars,,,
The weather here is getting cooler and I don't like it. Going to try and get out tomorrow, they say 49 degrees...but, I will practice....

Thanks so much,,,,

Robert Fleck's picture

Submitted by Robert Fleck on

Hi Marilyn,

It takes some practice to get the feel for it but where your weight is on a particular pitch or chip shot is largely determined by how much time you need it to spend in the air compared to how far you want it to roll out. The more you want the ball to go up and land softly, the more you keep your weight behind the ball. The more you want it to land and run, the more you keep the weight in front of it. You can do this with every club in your bag with practice. When you're out on the course and you have a little time around the green before you can go to the next tee, drop a couple balls around the edge and make the same setup and swing with a few different clubs to see how the ball reacts differently with each. Or, if your course has a good short-game area, try it out there. Then try shots with the same club, but with your weight forward, centered, and back to see the difference in the result. You'll get the feel for it over time.

dmwheat4@comcast.net's picture

Submitted by dmwheat4@comcast.net on

Did get outside for golf, practice what you said, did pretty good, when I hit the ball good, seem funny with weight on front leg, the ball did run good. I will just have to practice and practice. The weather was cool today and I do know, the ball does not go as far, clubs/ball cold. IM going to get a heater for my cart, for sure!!! I watched the golf channel this afternoon, Fred Couples was swinging to fast, I did that today, darn, why do we do that??? Is it mind over matter,,,,,yes..

Thanks so much,,,