

A solid chipping technique can make all the difference in your short game. While many golfers focus on the setup and follow-through, the backswing in chipping is equally crucial. Getting it right will give you better control over the trajectory and distance of your chip shots. In this article, we’ll break down key chipping backswing tips that will help you execute more consistent and effective chip shots.
One of the most debated aspects of the chipping backswing is the use of the wrists. Some golfers advocate for a rigid, wrist-free backswing, while others prefer a slight wrist hinge. So, what’s the correct method?
The truth is, it’s a matter of personal preference. The most important thing is to find a technique that you can control effectively. Some players feel more comfortable and find more control using a combination of body rotation with a slight wrist hinge.
Tip: Experiment with both styles to see which works best for you:
Assess which style gives you more consistent results and feels more natural. Remember, the goal is to create a smooth, repeatable motion that you can rely on under pressure.
The swing plane plays a vital role in the success of your chip shot. Ideally, the clubhead should travel along the same line as the shaft plane during the backswing and into the downswing. This path helps maintain control over the club and ensures proper contact with the ball.
When practicing, pay attention to these common errors:
Tip: Visualize the swing plane line extending from your shaft and try to keep the clubhead traveling along this line during the backswing. This adjustment promotes a mid-trajectory chip shot, which is typically more controlled and reliable.
Another key aspect to consider is the clubface’s angle as you move into your backswing. When the club’s shaft is parallel to the ground in the backswing, the leading edge of the club should be close to vertical, though not perfectly so.
Tip: For the best results with a mid-trajectory chip shot, aim to have the leading edge of the club face close to vertical when the shaft is parallel to the ground. This position allows for a clean strike, maximizing control over the shot’s height and distance.
One of the subtler yet crucial aspects of a chipping backswing is the movement of your head. Many top players have a slight forward and downward motion of the head during the backswing. This motion is subtle, just a few centimeters, but it plays a significant role in maintaining a steady position and preparing for a consistent downswing.
Tip: When practicing, focus on allowing a slight forward and downward motion of the head during the backswing. This movement should be subtle and feel natural, setting you up for a smooth downswing.
To summarize these chipping backswing tips:
Mastering the chipping backswing is about finding a technique that suits your style while maintaining some key fundamentals. By experimenting with wrist action, focusing on the swing plane, adjusting the clubface angle, and incorporating slight head movement, you can develop a consistent chipping motion that improves your short game.
Next time you’re on the practice green, try incorporating these “chipping backswing tips” into your routine. Remember that practice and experimentation are key to finding what works best for you. With time and dedication, you’ll build a reliable chipping technique that you can rely on for various situations on the course. Happy chipping!

When it comes to improving your short game in golf, having the right chipping stance can make a huge difference. Many players struggle with consistency because their setup is off, leading to poor contact and unpredictable shots. In this guide, we’ll cover the essential tips to help you achieve a solid chipping setup every time you approach the ball. Let’s break down these key points into simple, actionable steps.
For a basic chip shot, the position of your feet plays a crucial role. Ideally, your feet should be fairly close together to promote better control:
The slight difference in toe distance is because the front foot should be turned out approximately 30 to 40 degrees. This adjustment makes it easier to rotate your hips smoothly, helping you maintain a natural, fluid motion during the chip shot. If your front foot is aligned straight ahead, it restricts your hip rotation, resulting in a stiffer, less effective swing.
A balanced weight distribution is key to a consistent chip shot. Aim to keep about 55% of your weight on your front leg and 45% on the back leg. This slight forward lean helps you achieve better contact with the ball:
Where you place the ball in your stance can significantly impact the shot’s outcome. The best way to check the ball’s position is to use your sternum as a reference:
One common mistake players make is standing too close or too far from the ball, affecting their balance and swing path. Follow this simple rule to find the right distance:
The positioning of your hands and the club’s shaft can influence how you use the club’s bounce. Here’s how to set it up correctly:
Many golfers are taught to place the ball back in their stance, shift more weight forward, and press their hands forward. While this can work in some situations, it isn’t ideal for a mid-trajectory chip shot. Here’s why:
Using this “Golf Chipping Stance Tip” — ball under the sternum, 55-45 weight distribution, and hands just outside the inner thigh — helps you utilize the club’s bounce. This way, even if you strike the ground slightly early, the club can still glide through without digging in, producing a more forgiving shot.
The beauty of this setup is that it allows for slight imperfections, giving you more consistent results even if you aren’t always perfectly precise with your strikes. Instead of needing to be “dead perfect” every time, you can focus on maintaining a smooth, controlled swing, knowing your setup gives you some leeway for error.
By following these simple “Golf Chipping Stance Tips,” you can build a solid and reliable chipping technique that doesn’t require perfect execution every time, making it ideal for golfers of all skill levels.


Why? Let me give you 4 examples:
First reason for that you are basically wasting your time, and doesn’t improve your short game when practicing, is that you are hitting the same shot over and over again. Think about how golf is played ON THE COURSE:
You start of a hole, with a certain club, from a tee and a flat tee-box. Next shot will probably be with a different club. Third shot with a new club again, and so it follows. You will constantly face different lie, slopes, and other conditions.
So if this is how golf is played, different shots ALL THE TIME, why are we practicing the same shot over and over again?
Some would say that it is so we can better repeat that specific shot on the course. And yes I get the idea, but science has proven over and over again that you actually perform a lot better on the course, if variation is to be found in your practice.
A very good game to try out on the short game practice area to simulate how a round of golf is played would be to do the “27 shots challenge”. This game is made of 27 shots which form 9 holes, and you will get a score on each hole relative to par, just as when you playing on the course. You can find the drill in the Free E-book Top 3 Chipping Drills

-What is 13 x 5?
Got it? Now:
-What is 13 x 5?
Do you have the answer? Let me ask you again:
-What is 13 x 5?
Okay, you probably figured out already the first time that the answer is 65. Your brain had to do some work to figure that out right? When the brain does work, its like going to the gym and lifting weights. It gets just a tiny bit better every time.
But what about the second time? How much work did your brain need to do then? Nothing right?
And the third time it was probably the same. This means that the second and third time your brain didn’t need to do any work, and therefore no learning took place. This is the same way it works when practicing your short game (and all other parts of the game as well).
So instead of hitting the same shot over and over again, you need to change something between every shot. New hole, new club, new trajectory, a new place to hit from. In this way, you are constantly challenging your brain, and by this, you are creating new learning. Otherwise you will be stuck in you old practice habits, and never improve your short game.
A very good way to make sure that this random element is a part of your future short game practice would be to try out the 27 shot challenge, which you can find through the free e-book called Top 3 Chipping Drills – click here to download for free

Do you now that feeling that when doing something specific, nothing else really matters at that moment? 100% of your attention is focused on that specific task, whether it is cooking dinner, playing computer or practicing your golf.
Players often refer to this mental state of mind as being “in the zone”. In the zone, optimal learning takes place, your skills are developed at maximum speed and you are spending your time as effective as possible.
The principle is called “flow”, and it describes a certain state of mind a player can reach when the challenge matches the skill level of the player.
Take a look at the chart below. The skill-level is at the x-axis, and the difficulty of the challenge is at the y-axis.

If the difficulty of the challenge is very low, and the player’s skill level is high, the player will be facing boredom.
If the difficulty of the challenge is very high, and the player’s skill level is very low, the player will be facing anxiety.
None of these feelings are very good when playing and practicing golf. No one wants to fell bored when practicing, because then its not really fun right? Neither wants anyone to feel anxiety because the challenge is so difficult that they fell useless.
This means that the way you practice must be well balanced according to the difficulty of the challenge you are facing, in order to enter the flow state of mind. It may not be easy because then the player will be bored. Neither must it be way to difficult, because that can break the player completely.
A very good drill to try would be the zone-climb, which can be found in the the Free E-book Top 3 Chipping Drills. This drill is constructed in a way that it automatically makes it more and more difficult the better you perform, which makes sure that you can enter the flow state of mind easily.
One last comment about the difficulty of the challenges:
I better like to make games and drills a little to difficult than to boring. I am a strong believer the practice should frustrate you, and sometimes you should be on the edge of breaking completing. In these situations you learn so much more about yourself, and hey, isn’t it exactly those feelings you sometimes get when you play?
Another thing to consider: On EVERY shot in golf there is a consequence for hitting a bad shot, and a reward for hitting a good one, that’s a fact.
A bad shot can cause penalty strokes, or place the ball in a bad position for the next shot.
A good shot will place yourself in a good position for the next shot or maybe even finish up the hole with a good score.
So tell me, why are we practicing without a consequence? I think I know the answer: Because it feels nice and good.
And yes it does feel good to hit that same shot for the same flag for an hour, knowing that if you hit a bad shot, you can just hit a new one. But does it make you any better? Does it make you better when you are out on the course? I really don’t think so.
What you should do instead is practice in a way that brings along a reward and consequent for every shot you hit. The opportunities are endless for creating games and drills that do exactly this. One of my favorite games is the 9 shot challenge game. The goal is to complete all 9 holes, starting from hole 1 and moving up. Every time you succeed with the success-criteria on a hole, you can move on to the next hole, and by this, you are closing towards completing the game (reward). But if you fail a hole, you must go a hole back, and by this, you are further away from completing the game (consequence). The game can be found in the e-book 35 Short Game Drills and Games. You can also download the Free E-book Top 3 Chipping Drills as a good start.

That was 4 reasons for why your short game doesn’t improve. The next time you go to the short game area, remember the following things:
-Hit different shots ALL the time.
-Let there be a consequence for hitting a bad shot.
-Let there be a reward for a good shot.

If you feel a bit lost in the moment about what you specifically need to do the next time you are on the short game area, I strongly recommend you to download the free e-book Top 3 Chipping Drills right now. It’s completely free and provides you with 3 easy to do drills to get started with a better practice. If you want a complete guide on how to practice your short game probably, AND 35 of the best short game drills and games, you can buy the e-book 35 Short Game Drills and Games right here. It provides you with 35 well described, challenging and exciting games and drills you can go try the moment you buy the book. Some of them can actually be done in your garden at home.

Have you ever found yourself in the following scenario: Your ball has come to rest on a steep uphill slope in a greenside bunker. After trying to pull off the shot, you find your ball either on the other side of the green because you bladed the shot, or just in the lip of the bunker because you hit the sand to early. Don’t worry; you are not the only one.
In the following you will learn the 3 key factors for the uphill bunker shot. Pictures will guide you through the factors.
It may not come as a big surprise, but you need to change the setup for it to match the uphill slope the ball is located at. Here is what you need to do:
-You need a very wide stance in order to keep your balance.
-Tilt you upper body so your shoulders are more in line with the slope.
-Your weight is going to be a lot on the trail foot (back foot) because of the upper body tilt.
You’ve just learned the basics of how to setup for an uphill bunker shot. I just quickly want to show you the most common mistakes people make in the setup for this shot:
-Setting up with a very narrow stance.
-Having their spine close to vertical.
-Leaning forward with the weight.
Now that you have placed yourself correctly in the setup, with the weight more on the back foot, it is very important that you KEEP the weight on the back foot. In almost every other shot, that you have to move the weight forward. And that is absolutely correct, just not with this specific shot.
Now you might be thinking:
Did he just said that I should keep my weight on the back foot?! And yes I did. By keeping the weight back, there is a greater chance of your shoulders keeping their tilt with the slope. Just look at the pictures below:
On the left picture you can clearly see how the upper body is tilted with the slope, just as we placed it at setup. On the right picture the weight has moved forward and the upper body is now tilted towards the hill. This will cause the club to smash into the hill and never make it any further than that. The margin for error is 0 when the club is swinging that hard into the sand/slope.
That was 2 out of 3 key factors when hitting uphill bunker shots. The third key is about how you swing the club. All that matters is that the club, when it hits the ball, must be swinging almost inline with the slope. Look at the picture below:
As you can see, the club is swinging up along the slope when the ball is hit, and this is the whole idea of this shot. By making the setup adjustments we did, and keeping our weight back, we increased the chances of the club swinging along the slope at impact.
Here are a few other swing-feelings to try out to make this happen:
-In the downswing, fell like you are making a “wide”swing. This means swinging the club far away from yourself in the downswing.
-In the follow-through, you should do the opposite than in the downswing. You should make a very narrow swing. This means keeping your hands very close to your body, and maybe add some flexion in both of your arms.
Both of these swing-feelings should make the club head travel more up along the slope at impact.
Way to many amateur players does the exact opposite than described above. They move their weight a lot forward in the downswing and they swing “narrow”down to the ball. This will cause the club head to smash into the hill of sand, and never make it any further. The margin for error when doing this is 0.
You have now learned the 3 key factors for uphill bunker shots. Unfortunately, it’s not enough only to read about it. The next time you are going to play a round of golf, try and arrive 30 minutes before you normally would do. Take some practice balls, go to the practice bunker, and try out the 3 above described things. Test them out, see how you like them, and find out which of the key factors you think is the most important for YOU! Good luck.
The above described shot is not the easiest to succeed with. Make sure you have your bunker-fundamentals in line (read the 15 most important bunker shot basics to check if you got it), before you start working on the uphill shot.
If you want to learn how to hit downhill bunkershots, you should read How to Master the Downhill Bunker Shot.

I think you will agree with me, when I say that bunker shots from wet sand (wet=hard and compressed) can be a tough shot to succeed with. Most of the time you might be blading it, but in the following I will teach you 2 very simple and easy to do solutions for this shot. One of the solutions will give you a nice high trajectory out of the wet and hard sand, the other solution will give you a lower flight.

Before you learn the solution to this shot, you need to understand what the real problem is. Look at the picture below. The ball is located in a bunker with really wet AND by that also really hard sand.

If you place the clubhead as you normally would in a bunker with a very open clubface, look what has happened to the leading edge of the club. It is very close to the equator of the ball, and if no changes are made, this leading edge will probably never make it underneath the balls equator, which will result in the ball flying over the green. So the problem is to make sure that the leading edge of the club makes it underneath the balls equator.
Luckily the solution is not that complicated. You have two choices, and each has its advantages and disadvantages. Which one you choose depends on the specific situation you face on the course, and also which solution you are most comfortable with. Both techniques does require wet AND hard/compressed sand. If the sand is wet and fluffy because somebody has raked the wet sand then these solutions will do you no good.
The first solution will result in a high trajectory out of the wet sand, which in some cases is to prefer in a greenside bunker, because of the pin position and green design. This solution does take a little bit of power and strength. Most men would be able to pull it of without problems, but it can be harder for some women.
This shot is played with an OPEN clubface at setup, which will give the high trajectory.
-You need to place the ball a little further back in the stance than you would for a usual greenside bunker shot. It should be placed just underneath or slighty back of the sternum.
-You also need to put a little more weight on the front foot than usual. You sould fell about 65-75% of the weight on the front foot.

Both of these changes will make the club come down to the ball on a steeper angle than usual (the Attack Angle will be steeper). This will dig the club further down under the ball, which we need because of the open clubface (see picture 1 for demonstration). Two more things can be done to ensure this:
-In the downswing, make sure to hold the angle in your wrist a little longer than usual. Feel like you are swinging the club more straight down towards the sand.
-Hit the shot with quite a lot of clubspeed.
These 2 above swing-feelings will add some extra power and steepenes to you swing, and this will again dig the club further down under the ball, even though the clubface is wide open.

If the above-mentioned solution sounds a bit to hard to pull of, or if you are facing a shot that doesn’t require a high flight, then you can try out the following technique. As before, his technique does requires wet AND hard/compressed sand. If the sand is wet and fluffy because somebody has raked the wet sand then this solution will do you no good. This solutions will give you a lower and more running / releasing shot.
All you need to do is hit a very basic, mid trajectory chip-shot (check the 9 best chipping tips to learn this shot). If this is done correctly the club should glide under the ball as it would for a normal chip from grass. You do need to deliver the club in the correct impact position and in the right way, otherwise you are not going to be successful.
-Place yourself in your normal chipping-setup. The key is the shaft alignment seen from the front view. It should be close to vertical or only be leaning slightly forward (see picture). This will ensure exposure of the bounce.
-Keep the clubface fairly square or just a fraction open.
-Hit a normal chip shot from here. Be sure to deliver the club with minimal shaft-lean at impact.
-Keep you arms and body relax, and make sure to turn and extend you body in the downswing and follow-through.

A basic chip shot will work very well from the wet and compressed sand, due to two things. Firstly the leading edge is closer the ground with a more square face. This will ensure that the leading edge will make contact with the ball below the equator of the ball (see picture below).

Secondly your wedge is equipped with an angle called the bounce. This angle will help the club glide over the sand instead of digging into the ground. If you struggle with a basic chip shot, I would highly recommend you to read the 9 best chipping tips before you try this technique in a bunker.
You have now learned 2 techniques on how to hit a bunker shot from wet sand! The following video will show you what the techniques looks like when they are taking them to the golf course.
You have now learned two ways to hit bunker shots from wet sand (wet=hard and compressed). Try them out the next time you are at your golfclub and the weather has given the bunkers a bit a water.
If you liked the content above, feel free to share the article through the different social platfroms and spread the word about how this shot can be hit! :)

Imagining yourself in a greenside bunker. Your ball is on a downslope, and the bunker has a lip that the ball needs to fly over in order to hit the green. Would you feel a little scared? If so, keep on reading!
In the following you will learn how to hit a downhill bunker shot that has a decent height in order for it to clear a bunker lip, or land and stop recently fast on the green. There are 3 important steps you must know in order to success with this shot.

The challenge with a downhill bunker shot that needs some height, is as following:
The first thing you have to do is to put yourself in the best position as possible before you start swinging. But what is the best strating-postion for a downhill greenside bunkershot? Here is what to do:
Below is a picture demonstrating the 5 above mentioned setup adjustments. The right picture demonstrates the opposite, but unfortunately very often seen setup for a downhill bunker shot.
Now that you have placed yourself in the correct setup position for the downhill bunkershot, its time to talk about what will need to happen during the swing. One very important element in the swing, is to keep the upper body tilt you established at setup. This mens keeping your weight a lot on the front foot, and trying to keep the lead shoulder (left shoulder for a right-handed player) low during the whole swing.
As you can see on the left pictures above, the weight is kept on the front foot, and the lead shoulder is keept down during the downswing. On the right pictures you will see what it looks like if the opposite is done. This is a disaster when hitting downhill bunker shots.
The last thing you need to change is more of a feeling than an actually major change. If you do the two above described things you´ve come a long way, but this final piece to the puzzle can be the game changer. Here is what you need to feel:
And below is how the opposite would look like. Weight going back, a wide arc in the downswing, and a narrow in the follow-through, almost trying to “lift” the ball in the air, which is a disaster.
You are now a downhill bunker shot master! But remember: This is a tricky shot to execute! You need to practice it before taking it to the course. I challenge you to use at least 4 x 15 minute of practice in the following month that comes. It might not seem as much, but I’ll bet that its 1 hour more of bunker practice than you otherwise would have done ;)
Place fell free to take 10 seconds to click on one of the share buttons bellow, so that other people can learn to master this tricky shot as well!