Need help with mental on chipping

[spakgpt]

Hello All,

I am a 5 handicap for about 5 years with great drive, irons and putting but lacks mental over chipping and my handicap won't come down.

The reason I say mental over chipping is that I do great on practice sessions but during the round, I seem to either hit it FAT or thin and send it flying over the green like 3" off the ground.

During practice, if I have about 20 balls I would hole in about 6 - 8 balls and rest of the balls would rest within 3 ft of the pin. I think I have all the skills but for some reason during the round I just can't reproduce the same results as on the chipping green.

What is the matter with me? i think it's mostly mental but I don't know how to or what to do about it to fix this problem of mine?

I need serious help... please HELP!!!!

Sam

[Martin Levac]

Re: Need help with mental on chipping

spakgpt, it is mental but a different kind of mental. Try a different perspective on the game. How about you take a step back and check to see if you practice enough. Or if you practice too much. Or if you practice superfluous actions on top of the stroke itself. 20 balls for one practice session is nothing. Try 500. For 7 days. Then check to see if you've improved. Or don't practice then check to see if you've improved.

[Started2k3]

Re: Need help with mental on chipping

I am not very good ... yet.

I find with my chipping that I am having to learn to trust my swing more. Because when ever I hit it FAT or THIN it is primarily because I stopped focusing on my ball and "followed my clubface" so I got out of position.

One thing I have been working on is to treat the chip like a putt where my head doesn't come up until the ball is long gone. Once I have hit the ball there is not amount of watching (yelling, swearing) that will change what the ball is going to do so I have to trust that I got it right.

Charles

[golf-instructionz]

Re: Need help with mental on chipping

Looks like nerves getting the better of you. Try to concentrate and imagine you are playing a practise shot instead of the real thing. I found that when I concentrate on visualising and drawing an imagination path of trajectory to the pin all through out the chipping process, it draws my attention away from worrying about hitting the ball crisply with the club. It sound strange but it works for me.

[GregJWillis]

Re: Need help with mental on chipping

(I just noticed you created a separate post from your welcome question, so I copied my reply here)...And from what it looks like, Cmays and I are in the same camp.
..................................
There is no question about the confidence issue...any shot you know about having not executed well in the past will sit in the forefront of your mind all the time. And when you are on the course and already know you have a problem chipping, have make bogey after bogey off the green from 12 feet away ...(you know the rest).

Better performance breeds confidence. Confidence alone does not necessarily create better performance -- if your technique is flawed, but you are confident over it, you still have a flaw...where proper technique without confidence is simply a consistency issue, and that is so much better to deal with.

So, the question is how to start to build some confidence in your chipping? (because what you said is that you have proper technique, right? Otherwise, if you have flaws in technique, we need to fix that first).

You said, "It's not that I don't practice chipping, I practice alot and do very well when I practice but for some reason when on the course, I seem to either duff it FAT or knock it thin over the green. I think it's more of a mental thing than skill."

Let's start with your practice routine. I am going to assume you take a bag of balls to a practice hole, go through a few rounds, mixing up the distances and types, hitting low runners and high floppers to various holes...and that is good. You should. You need to know what each shot type requires, and the different methods to execute them. An hour later, you get tired/bored and call it a day, happy you practiced and "hope" it carries over to the course. (Help me out if I am off base here...you may be doing more then this or less, I'm just guessing here)

But what is missing? Any sense of pressure.

In my section on Competition drills: Golf Lessons - GregJWillis

I talk about creating artificial competition in your head using simple games...creating consequences, and if you do not succeed in the drill's objective, you start over.

So this is your first task...to practice with consequences.

[BrianW]

Re: Need help with mental on chipping

You can chip well when practising so you have the skills.

Cmays hit the nail when he said you are not under pressure when practising, so what changes when chipping for dough? I know this type of problem can become a downward spiral as you loose confidence, play the shot badly, loose more confidence then onward and downward goes the sequence.

The suggestion that you may be looking up was a good one, this is a guaranteed way of hitting fat or thin. The other thing to consider is adrenalin, under pressure it will increase and cause us to become tense and loose rhythm and tempo.

Try this method, it may help:
Start by controling your breathing, make deep abdomen type breaths and exhale fully. Consider that it is "Possible" to hole this shot. Make some practice chip swings just away from the ball while looking at the target, pick out the exact point the ball should land then break from. When you get the exact right feel, move to the ball and without looking up make the chip with the exact same feel. Look up when the ball has gone.

[GolfJunkieSr]

Re: Need help with mental on chipping

Just my two cents worth. When practicing chipping, most people I see throw a bunch of balls down, usually in a flat area, then hit the same chip shot over, and over again. I guess they are working on their mechanics, which in it self is not a bad thing. After a few chips with the same club, from the same distance, from the same lie, to the same pin, they become very good. They hole a few, with the balance of the balls stopping close enough to the hole, where a one putt is a high percentage shot. They walk away from that practice station figuring they are now proficient at chipping.

Now go to the course where you seldom see the same lie, same distances, same slope, or grain of the green when the chip becomes the shot at hand. Unless the chip shot needed is the one that has been practiced over, and over, the golfer is looking at a different shot, which is one they have not practiced.

So, when practicing, spread those balls around a given area, that will give you a variety of different looks, and shots required. Duplicate chip shots that gave you problems while on the course. Chip from different lies, uneven lies, side hill lies, use different clubs, chip from different directions, pay attention to the grain, and type of grass. Study the landing area, noting if the ball will roll straight, or kick right or left after landing.

The whole idea of practicing any shot, be it a chip, pitch, putt, fairway, good lie, poor lie, draw, fade, or off the tee, is to not be surprised on the course by shots you have never seen before, or practiced. If you have seen the shot before, and have become some what proficient with it due to practice, then the mental aspect of the game will be easier, and pressure, during your round will be much less intense. GJS

[bulldog2k]

Re: Need help with mental on chipping

I hope it's appropriate to add this question here, rather than start a new thread?

Greg: Sw = 2/3 | 1/3... I in general bail out of chipping with a sand wedge, because the bounce tends to make me thin in, particularly on tight lies. Accordingly, if I use a sand wedge, I tend to de-loft it in an attempt to get the leading edge to the ground, and by the time I've done this, I tend to think I might as well have use a PW in the first place. I'm wrong, aren't I?

In addition, I suppose from a terminalogical level, I'd call a shot that flew 2/3 in the air and rolled 1/3 a pitch, not a chip, even over short distances. Have I got this wrong too?

[Stillhacken]

Re: Need help with mental on chipping

Being a 5 handicap you probably dont miss too many greens. You must be one heck of a putter also. You should use your confidence in your putting to allow yourself some slak in your chipping. Im not saying slak up on your chipping. Im saying dont put so much pressure on yourself to make the perfect chip. A good preshot routine will also help you get in your position of putting your weight on your front foot for chips. It sounds like you are hanging back causing your bladers and fat shots.

You should take what I say with a grain of salt because I will never be a 5 handicap. I do chip pretty good though. Good luck!

[edshaw]

Re: Need help with mental on chipping

Sometimes the fat chip is caused by
over-eager hands. We know the hands
should stay ahead of the club head
during chipping, however, a trace of
nervousness can cause the hands to
leap ahead (and sometimes downward)
just before contact, resulting in
ground before ball contact.
The fault can be unconscious, misleading
the golfer to suspect he might have a
mental issue, where, all along, it was
a mechanical flaw brought on by nerfs.
On the one in a hundred chance this
might be it, I submit the post to you,
with due respect....

[gman4500]

Re: Need help with mental on chipping

I too have been struggling with chipping. What is working now is for me to think of returning the club at impact the same as it is at address(shaft angle and hand position)

[GreeBoman]

Re: Need help with mental on chipping

I agree with the pressure comments.
I dont let myself go home until I hit all the balls in a set (~25 balls) to within 5 feet.
If I leave any short then its back to square one.

Thats gets very annoying and there is pressure on the last few!