5 Golf Chipping Drills to Lock in Your Up & Down Game

Key Takeaways

Alex Johnson

Reveiw By: Mark Wood

Key takeaways

Use tools to keep you in check. Using tools like alignment sticks and towels are simple ways to quickly provide feedback to ensure your mind and body are in sync. Feel vs real is a moving target.
Simulate pressure to engrain the skill and build confidence. Find ways to simulate on-course situations to raise the stakes. You need to be able to perform when something is on the line, even if that is just your ego.
Rate your commitment level and the outcome of shots. Being aware of how committed you stayed to a shot or technique is equally important as the result of the shot. Sometimes you can use bad habits to hit good shots, which actually makes your chipping drills less effective.

Table of Contents

Alignment Stick Drills
Keep the Triangle Drill
Hula Hoop Chipping Drill
18 Hole Up & Down Competition
Hit the Wall

Key takeaways

Use tools to keep you in check. Using tools like alignment sticks and towels are simple ways to quickly provide feedback to ensure your mind and body are in sync. Feel vs real is a moving target.
Simulate pressure to engrain the skill and build confidence. Find ways to simulate on-course situations to raise the stakes. You need to be able to perform when something is on the line, even if that is just your ego.
Rate your commitment level and the outcome of shots. Being aware of how committed you stayed to a shot or technique is equally important as the result of the shot. Sometimes you can use bad habits to hit good shots, which actually makes your chipping drills less effective.

Everyone loves shooting low scores, but most golfers don’t have the same level of excitement to work on their short games. This rings true for players of all levels, despite the fact that we all know that often times, getting up and down more is the fastest way to lower your scores.

In this article, we are going to break down five of our favorite chipping drills. As we do so, let’s have a little reminder about what “chipping” is specifically. To quote one of our golf instruction experts, Tim Mahoney, “chipping is when the club doesn’t get above your hands on either side of the swing, and the ball rolls further than it flies in the air.”

With that in mind, let’s dig into some of our top recommended drills.

#1: Alignment Stick Drills to Lock In Your Contact

Going with the fundamentals is never a bad option, and our first recommended chipping drill is just that — fundamental. All you need for this drill is two alignment sticks and a green that rolls decently and that you are allowed to chip on.

Ball Position Line (Stick)

The ball position line is perpendicular to your footline and helps you detect where the ball is relative to the width of your stance. When doing the alignment stick drill, we are focused on creating consistent contact, giving us more control over the golf ball once it leaves the club. Engraining the basics of good ball position, slightly back in the stance, is something you can’t over-practice even if you tried.

Ball Position Line

Target Line (Stick)

The alignment stick used for the target line runs parallel to your feet and body, but is placed closer to the ball, or in some cases, in front of the ball to visualize the path where the ball will take off.

Target Line

Goal of the Alignment Stick Drill

In doing this drill, the goal is to build confidence through repetition of crisp contact with a small motion. Train your eyes to the proper alignment and setup. Train your body to hit down on the ball and find a consistent strike. This should result in a consistent and controlled pace for the ball to leave the club and roll out in an expected way, which is always nice.

#2: Keep the Triangle Drill

Another staple in the arsenal of great golf chipping drills is the triangle drill. You don’t need any equipment for this, but some do use an alignment stick or sometimes a towel. In this drill, we are focused on not breaking the triangle, imagining your shoulders and arms form a triangle, as shown in the image below, to form a triangle. The motion is simple: rock the triangle back and forth in good rhythm, finding consistent contact and controlling your distance.

Triangle Drill

If you want to spice this up a little bit, you can tuck a towel under one or both arms to make sure you are staying connected. One other option is to run an alignment stick along the shaft of the club and up your arm. When you swing, don’t let the shaft poke you in the ribs on the way through and you are doing it right.

#3: Hula Hoop Chipping Drill

Another oldie but a goodie. The hula hoop chipping drill involves drawing a circle around the hole you are targeting, and attempting to chip balls into the circle. This drill really tests your distance control and direction by emphasizing the importance of chipping it within 3ft (AKA a distance where most make a high percentage of putts).

A great way to do this drill and to keep it interesting is to:

Use the same club for three different targets — This is a great way to learn which distances start to feel most comfortable with a given club. You might find that what you thought you liked a 52 degree wedge for, you actually do better with a pitching wedge (PW).

Use a different club from the same location — This is a great way to learn how to get creative and hit slightly different shots depending on the conditions. Similar to rotating targets, you will start to figure out which shot/club combo you feel best about.

Overall, this drill is a great way to establish go-to shots and club selection that you feel uber confident with. When you go to take something to the course, reps and trust go a long way!

The Game Begins Here.

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Table of Contents

Alignment Stick Drills
Keep the Triangle Drill
Hula Hoop Chipping Drill
18 Hole Up & Down Competition
Hit the Wall

#4: 18 Hole Up & Down Competition

This last drill takes us as close to simulating on-course experiences as possible. This is a great drill for all skill levels, but a particularly fun one for junior golfers who have friends to compete with all the time.

It’s as simple as this — find a green that you can both chip and putt on, albeit this can be a challenge sometimes. Assuming you can find a practice green that fits the bill, find a partner (competitor) and play 18 holes of up and downs. Rotate who picks the hole evenly, or, to spice it up, play dealer’s choice, where whoever has the honor gets to keep picking until the other person beats them on a hole.

Par is two for every hole. Play all 18 and add them up at the end. Whoever scores the lowest wins. It never hurts to put five bucks on the line to keep things interesting! By simulating the pressure of having to get it up and down, it helps you translate that onto the course and build confidence that you can get a high percentage of your chips up and down when you need it to post a score.

#5: Hit the Wall (Great for Those Struggling With the Y**s)

This last drill is a specialty one for those that might be struggling with consistent contact (possibly stemming from a form of the y**ps). It is also just a great drill for building a habit of finishing your swing and high levels of commitment to a shot.

The hit-the-wall drill doesn’t require any equipment other than your ball and a club, and ideally, a target to chip to. What you do is:

1. Pick a specific target and shot that you are trying to hit.
2. Visualize what type of swing it will require, and specifically, what will your follow-through look like?
3. Hit the shot and stick the finish (AKA hit the wall).
4. Rate yourself on a scale of 1-10 on how well you stuck the finish.
5. Hit 10 shots and record your ratings. The goal is to score above an eight, on average.

Keep in mind, you aren’t evaluating the result of the shot. Ideally, the rating has a correlation between the process and the result, but your focus is on hitting the wall and how well you felt you executed that with conviction.

This drill is great to help you be less “ball conscious” and to find better contact by thinking less about contact and more about what your finish position looks and feels like. Even if you don’t struggle with contact, this is a great drill to practice your commitment level to shots (chipping, full shots, and putts alike).

Hopefully, these five chipping drills give you some good inspiration for your next practice session and lead to lower scores. While these are helpful, we’d encourage you to download the Golf Mind and Body app to get a more personalized experience, where we can begin tailoring content and recommendations to you based on your assessment results and unique needs.

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Alex Johnson

Alex Johnson is a former collegiate and mini-tour professional golfer. He played 4-years of D1 golf at the University of the Pacific, won two times in college, and was the low finishing American in the 2011 British Am (making the round of 16). Most recently studied under Greg Labelle from the Butch Harmon School of Golf.

Author

Mark Wood

administrator

Mark is a founder of Golf Mind & Body and one of the country’s most accomplished golf instructors. He has been recognized by Golf Digest and Golf Magazine as a Top 100 & Top 50 instructor. Mark is also the Director of Instruction at Carmel Country Club in Charlotte, NC.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is chipping the same as pitching?

No. Pitching is a shot that goes higher in the air and can often have a longer swing, whereas chipping the ball travels further on the ground than in the air.

Can you chip with every club in your bag?

Yes, although a driver might be a little unusual!

When do I know to chip vs. pitch?

This is a player’s choice based on their comfortability, but a good rule of thumb is that if you have the option to get the ball rolling faster, then chip. But if you have to carry over something (rough, bunker, ridge on the green), then utilize a pitch shot.