How to Chip in Golf: A Simple, Repeatable Method
Quick answer
A solid chip uses a small, putting-like motion: stand narrow with most of your weight on your lead foot, play the ball back of center, and keep your hands slightly ahead so the clubhead brushes the grass instead of digging or scooping. Let the loft of the wedge lift the ball — your job is clean contact and a steady, accelerating stroke through impact.
What is happening
Chipping is a short, low shot you use around the green to carry a little air and then roll to the hole. Most beginners struggle not because chipping is hard, but because they try to help the ball up by scooping with the wrists — which leads to thin shots that race across the green and fat shots that go nowhere.
The fix is to trust the loft already built into the wedge. With your weight forward and hands slightly ahead, the club delivers a slightly descending strike that uses the bounce of the sole to brush the turf, and the ball comes up on its own.
Consistent distance comes from a repeatable setup and a stroke that accelerates smoothly, not from manipulating the club at impact.
Diagnose it yourself
- Watch your contact: thin shots that race across the green and fat chips that come up short both point to a scooping, weight-back pattern.
- Check your weight at setup and through the shot — it should start and stay on your lead foot, never hang back.
- Look at your hands at impact. If the clubhead passes your hands before contact, you are flipping and adding loft you do not need.
- Film a few chips from face-on and watch whether the low point of the swing is at or just past the ball, not behind it.
What SwingVantage looks for
- Weight distribution at setup and through impact
- Whether the hands lead the clubhead or flip past it
- The low point of the stroke relative to the ball
- Tempo and length of the back-and-through motion
Beginner-safe drills
1. Lead-arm-only brush drill
Make small chipping strokes with only your lead arm, brushing the grass at the same spot each time. This teaches the club to bottom out under your lead shoulder with the hands leading, instead of flipping.
2. Coin-behind-the-ball gate
Place a tee or coin an inch behind the ball, then make chips that miss it and strike the ball first — proof you are hitting down and forward, not scooping up.
3. Ladder distance drill
Drop balls and chip to three targets at increasing distances, changing only the length of your stroke, not your hands. This builds feel for carry distance with one repeatable motion.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Trying to lift the ball with your wrists instead of trusting the loft of the club.
- Setting up with your weight on your back foot, which moves the low point behind the ball.
- Decelerating into the ball out of fear; a short, accelerating stroke is more reliable.
- Using one wedge for every shot without learning how each loft rolls out.
When to work with a coach
If you still catch chips thin or fat after grooving a forward-weight setup, if you feel wristy under pressure, or if you cannot tell from your own video where the club is bottoming out, a short lesson on setup and low point will fix chipping faster than any single tip.
Your swing, decoded — coaching in your pocket. SwingVantage reads your data and hands you the one fix that matters most, with confident, data-backed guidance you can use today. Findings are heuristic estimates — smart reads that sharpen with every swing you add — and they pair perfectly with a coach for injury concerns or advanced technique work, so you show up to those sessions already ahead.
Chipping is low-intensity. Stop if you feel pain. Junior golfers should practice with adult supervision.
FAQ
Where should the ball be in my stance when chipping?
For a standard chip, play the ball just back of center with your weight on your lead foot and hands slightly ahead. Moving the ball back encourages clean, ball-first contact; moving it forward adds height but raises the risk of thin contact.
Why do I keep hitting my chips thin?
Thin chips almost always come from hanging back and flipping the wrists to lift the ball. Keep your weight forward, let your hands lead, and brush the grass — the loft of the wedge does the lifting.
Which wedge should a beginner chip with?
Start with a pitching or gap wedge for most greenside chips — they roll out predictably. Save the higher-lofted sand and lob wedges for when you genuinely need to carry a hazard or stop the ball quickly.
Is this your problem?
Find out if "how to chip in golf" is your top fault — free.
Ready to see your own swing?
Analyze My Short Game FreeFree · Private by default
The SwingVantage features behind this