If you’re faced with a long looking chip shot with a lot of green ahead of you to work with and it’s pretty flat, then usually the best play is to hit a chip-and-run and get the ball to release and roll out towards the hole, like a putt would. If you’re on a firm and bouncy course, it’s so much easier to control the ball if you keep it on the ground.
It’s not the most difficult shot in golf, but I do think that people can over-complicate it at times. When you think about it, when using a club like a 9 or an 8-iron, this type of shot is in many ways like a putt, because the movement is all about the shoulders.
There’s nothing in the arms, they stay locked in. This means that the triangle which is created between the shoulders and the hands on the club should remain the same throughout all phases of the shot.
Tuck your upper arms into your body, rock the shoulders and effectively think about letting the ball get in the way of the clubface, rather than think about ‘hitting’ the ball, because then some manipulation my creep in.
Keep your weight slightly favouring the leading side (left leg for right handed players), keep everything connected and then make the stroke, and keep practising because it is likely to be a shot you will need to go to a lot.
