How to Hit a High Spin, Low Trajectory Chip Shot
This is a shot that everyone asks about. I am about 30 yards from the green, not a lot of green to work with; I have to make the ball stop right away. You see tournament professionals hitting this shot; the ball takes a couple of bounces and then stops. Whether the flagstick is on the front of the green or the back they use this similar type of shot.
What You Need to Hit a High Spin Low Trajectory Chip Shot
A couple of things that you need to recognize on this shot. One, you have to have a ball that is a high spin golf ball. If you have a distance golf ball, one that does not spin enough, the ball is not going to stop. You have to have a nice lie in the fairway in order to do this and you have to have a golf club somewhere between 56 and 60 degrees to be able to get that ball to spin.
Proper Swing Technique
Now in playing this shot, realizing that the golf swing is a circular motion, so that as the club swings back it comes around you and then it comes back in front of you where the handle and the clubface are going to be on the same alignment, you are not going to have the handle ahead of the clubface.
Then I am also going to swing the club around me on the forward side of the swing. You need to be able to put some speed into this shot very much like if you were going to strike a match, you really need to put some friction on the match to make it light; that is what I have to do underneath this golf ball with the golf club.
Clubhead Speed
I need to feel that the handle, or the butt of the club, actually stops to allow the clubhead to swing past my hands with some speed. If I swing the handle and the clubhead at the same rate of speed I am not going to put enough spin on it to be able to make it stop. I will be able to hit the ball low this way but when the ball hits and lands it is going to skip past the flagstick.
Let’s take a look at the shot. I am going to take my set up, ball is in the middle of my stance, weight is a little bit on my forward leg. Well that came out pretty nice. Remember, the club has to swing around you, you need some speed at the bottom and feel like the handle stops to give speed to the clubhead down at the bottom, these shots will be a real piece of cake for you. Get out and practice them a little bit first before you put them in play. Go and have fun with it.