Use right hand only
Try different ball positions
Practise foot work
Try different clubs
Extend right arm after contact
The one-armed swing
This drill is simple enough – you grip the club as you would ordinarily and then remove the left hand. in fact, take it out of play completely by putting it in your left pocket. Continue to swing normally with the right hand only, whether for a flop shot or a bump-and-run to get a feel of how the right hand should act during the chip-shot. You should be following much the same action as throwing the ball at the hole and, as this swing forces you into a good release of the club, it shouldn’t take long before you get a feel of getting the ball up in the air quickly through cleaner contact.
Bunkers: Pictures a) & b)
The fingertips drill
In this drill, hold the club at the end of your fingers as shown and then continue your swing. Even with such a delicate grip, you should still be able to play good chip-shots after a bit of practise. You should also experience two important sensations during the drill – firstly, that you are letting the club do all the work and secondly, that you no longer need to grip the club firmly in order to get it to do what you want it to do.
The weight-transfer drill
Another common myth is that players should stay dead still over their chips, but as with any other shot, weight transfer is still hugely important. This drill simply involves practising chip-shots with exaggerated legwork in order to help you learn to transfer your weight from your right leg to the left leg correctly (as shown by my bent right leg), clearing the hips so that you can swing through the ball. A bad weight transfer, where the weight stays on the right side, cramps up the swing, restricts the arms and forces on to swing at the ball with the wrists. It can produce just about any result, but hitting it in the teeth is the most common.
