Putting spin on your chip shots and pitches is what every amateur golfer craves.
You see the tour pros hit these low-flying shots that look like they’re about to fly over the green. Then, they hit and slam on the brakes, and the ball spins backwards!
HOW DO YOU HIT THE SPINNING CHIP SHOT?
Learning how to hit shots that fly low and spin a lot is a matter of technique. Understanding the factors that influence spin are critical, so let’s start there.
First, you have to understand that spin is primarily dictated by loft, NOT SPEED.
To understand this further, try chipping with your driver. It likely has around 50 degrees less loft than your wedge and, no matter how hard you hit it, it won’t spin more than your lob wedge.
Most golfers are taught to set up for a chip by DELOFTING their wedge to help them avoid hitting it fat, when in fact, this typically results in the exact opposite!
Take a look at the two setups below and try and figure out which pitch shot will spin more:
If you guessed the one on the left, then you’re heading in the right direction! Even though most golf instructors teach the setup on the right, it reduces the ability to spin the ball by 30% as you can read in this chipping article here.
Needless to say, you’re setting yourself up for failure if you want to spin the ball a lot from a short distance by setting up with a lot of shaft lean.
The second problem this setup causes is hitting the ball fat.
As you can see in the image below, when you setup with the ball back in your stance you will significantly alter your angle of attack.
With a negative 18 degree angle of attack, there is no bounce left on the wedge to avoid digging into the turf, so if the leading edge hits the ground before the club face hits the ball, you’re in trouble. This is the exact recipe for laying the sod over the ball.
This is best illustrated in the following videos:
These videos clearly show how steeply the golf club will approach the ball on a pitch shot with this type of setup, putting you at risk for chunking your chips. Learning how to use the bounce is the key!
If you want to learn how to become a great chipper very quickly, you need the 7-part RotarySwing.com “Golf Chipping How-To Guide,” which is only available to Premium Members.
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