Most of us have experienced the fear of hitting a chip shot too far. That fear causes us to ease into in the ball which in turn makes us hit behind the ball or skull it across the green. This is called deceleration. There is nothing worse than hitting that career drive which leaves a little flip wedge to the green and we chunk the next shot.
Last week, one of my assistants had an incredible drive from the Blue Tees on # 6 leaving him 20 yards from the green. He then proceeded to skull the first chip, chunk the next two and then chip the fourth one in to save bogey…yes he had a drive and 4 chips for a bogey!
What causes our brain to malfunction when we have those little short chips? It is called fear. We are afraid we might hit the shot too hard so we tend to decelerate into the shot causing the bad contact. One of the most common short game shots we see deceleration is in the bunker.
If you do not accelerate on a bunker shot, usually your next shot is still in the bunker. What helps get the ball out of the bunker is the explosion of the sand from us accelerating through to the finish. Most players stop once they make contact with the sand causing the deceleration of the club.
Many years ago, I developed a method to help my students stop decelerating on these short shots. It really changes the way we think on short shots. When we stand over those little shots we are thinking “how big of a swing should I take” and we try to control our backswing or stop our back swing which in turn causes us to ease into the ball.
Instead, I have my students focus on the follow through. This method is twofold for me. One, it gets them to stop thinking on the backswing and two, it gets them through the hitting area which helps get rid of the deceleration.
Think about finishing different positions on the follow through. I start my students with finishing waist high on the follow through. When trying this, you will find the brain is very symmetrical, so what we are asking it to do on the follow through you will automatically get a similar distance on the backswing… without thinking about it!!!! This helps us get through the hitting area without deceleration.
If you need more distance, finish chest high on the follow through. For less distance try finishing knee high on the follow through. Once you start practicing these different finishing positions you will start to get a feel on the course for where your finish should be for the distance you need.
Just like with any shot game skill, it takes practice but once you get a good feel for this, I guarantee you will never fear those little shots again.