There’s nothing more frustrating than leaving shots on the golf course. When you finish a round and realize you gave away five strokes because your short game let you down, it can lead to all sorts of headaches.
What’s worse is not knowing how to solve the issue.
Golfers can recover from hooking or slicing a drive. They can even correct certain swing issues in the middle of the round. But chipping and putting takes more work, and requires focus in order to improve.
For those in need of some chipping tips, Mike Bury offers his three most important in the video above. Read below for how Bury breaks things down.
Tips to help save shots around the green
1. Avoid setting up too far forward
One of the big mistakes Bury sees is golfers having the ball up too far on greenside chips. When this happens, it often causes players to either hit the ground first and chunking it, or, when trying to avoid a chunk, blading it. He suggests aligning the ball further back.
“Let’s start with getting the ball back in the stance — we can move it forwards if we need to try and hit it farther. Play this one right off the inside of the back foot, either against the heel, or right up against the toe.”
2. Properly shift your weight
Another big mistake Bury mentions is golfers improperly shifting their weight. To avoid doing this, he offers the following chipping tip.
“Ideally, once we’re set up, we have 60 percent of our weight on our front foot. What we often see is, unfortunately, a little too much weight on the back foot.
“Weight falling to the back foot during a swing will move the low point back, we’re going to hit the ground first and chunk it, or we’re going to try and save it and blade it across the green.”
3. Use your body all the way through the swing
Although it’s a greenside chip and there isn’t much distance to the hole, golfers often forget to transfer their weight through the swing. When this happens, Bury says the arms often take over, which leads to inconsistency.
“We’ll see the arms take over and start to fold. That’s a recipe for blading it over the back again. There’s nothing good over the back of the green.”