The Chip Shot – a la MGS!
What exactly is the chip shot? It has variously been defined as:
A lofted shot in which the ball travels further along the ground than it does in the air. OR
A short, low-trajectory shot played to the green or from trouble back into play – the shot of choice when a putt is not possible as a result of an unpredictable surface immediately in front of the ball. OR
A low trajectory shot played to the apron, or green, or around the green, in which the roll is longer than the carry.
Bottom line: the ball must get a bit of loft – just enough to clear any ‘trouble’ and then run on the ground just like a putt does. It should therefore be made with a CLUB which gives it the minimal loft required and a STROKE which keeps it running after it lands.
If the ball has some amount of ‘check’ after it lands (created by imparting extra spin on the ball), instead of just roll, the shot becomes unreliable and unrepeatable, as the amount of backspin the ball gets can vary. So, as usual, the idea is to keep it MINIMALIST and make as simple (and putt-like) a stroke as possible. The shot is described in the ebook DIY (do-it-yourself) GOLF in detail, but here is validation for why it should be kept simple.
Ever since the dog-wagging-tail theory, people “rotate their bodies towards target and finish tall”.
They often hinge the wrists in the backswing too. Wrist-hinge is a small sin – not ideal, not MINIMALIST, but not unforgivable, if the golfer is somehow able to have straight wrists during the follow-through.
However, the stand-up-and-turn finish is absolutely absurd.
Why? The clubhead is (hopefully) approaching the ball from the inside (yellow line) so that it can square up in time for impact. Now you suddenly start to move the arms and hands ‘inside’ the target line and stand up in preparation for ‘finish’ too. Can you guarantee that you do all this after and not before impact? Time after time? Whenever split-second timing is required in golf, things become less consistent. So many joints to be moved, so many muscles to be triggered into action by so many nerves, all in perfect sequence! What’s wrong with straight back and straight through chip shot (with efficient joint-placements the MGS way).
PS: no doubts, I hope, on MGS being ‘la’ and not ‘le’.
