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I’m PGA Teaching Professional Todd Kolb with USGolfTV, and on this segment on On the Lesson Tee we’re talking about proper ball position for chipping. The first and the most common mistakes that most golfers make when it comes to chipping is they get their hands too far in front of the ball. Somebody, somewhere along the line in their life—or in a magazine or some other video—has told them to get your hands way in front of the ball when you chip; and that just simply does not work and here’s why.
When you move your hands way in front of the golf ball, what happens is you de-loft the golf club; you take all of the loft off it. You’re trying to hit a high soft shot with a club that came with 60 degrees of loft, and because you’ve moved your hands so far in front, now you might as well be chipping with a six iron or a seven iron. And this leads to all types or varieties of disasters when it comes to being around the green. So the first tip—and the most important tip—is make sure when you’re set up, that your hands are equal or slightly in front of the ball. If you do that, you’re going to keep the loft on the golf club, and you’re going to see the ball pop up nice and soft.
