Welcome to Play Smart, a regular GOLF.com game-improvement column that will help you become a smarter, better golfer.
When you’re hitting a chip shot, one of the most important things to assess is the lie. When the ball is sitting nicely, you can hit a variety of different shots. But when the lie isn’t so good, you’ve got far fewer options for what type of shot you can pull off.
For the pros, these calculations can be the difference between making par and bogey. And with the margins so thin at the highest levels of the game, one shot can make all the difference.
Drawing a bad lie makes it all the more likely you will not make great contact with the ball. But there are techniques you can use to make sure a bad lie doesn’t spell doom for your shot.
One such shot is Tiger Woods’ “draw chip,” which he explains how to hit in the TaylorMade video below. Check it out and add it to your arsenal around the greens.
Tiger’s ‘draw chip’
Pros think about the game in a completely different way than recreational players. Most weekend warriors approach every chip shot the same way, but the pros adjust their technique based on the situation they face.
You probably have a standard chip shot in your arsenal that you rely on when you get around the greens. This is great to have, but sometimes you might need to adjust a few things depending on the situation.
When Tiger faces a chip shot that has a high probability for hitting it fat (into the grain, bad lie, etc.), he opts for his “draw chip.”
Hitting the shot is simple. He takes his normal setup and opens the clubface at address with his weight on his front foot. He makes a normal chip-shot swing, but when he comes through the impact zone, he closes the face down and moves his body forward.
“I’ll get more spin,” he says. “But I’m also ensuring that I don’t fat it.”
By closing the face, he makes sure that the leading edge doesn’t stub into the ground producing a fat shot. And by keeping his weight moving forward, he’s ensuring there is no deceleration in his swing, which also tends to produce chunks.
Next time you’re facing a shot around the greens with a high chunk probability, try to hit Tiger’s draw chip. When you make those adjustments, it becomes almost impossible to catch the shot heavy.
