Short Game

No One Wants To See You Blading Chips

June 22, 2016
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JD Cuban/Golf Digest

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One of our readers, Mike, emailed us with a horror story about how he’s been blading every shot within 30 yards. Cue uncontrollable cringing.

Trillium Rose, the Director of Instruction at Woodmont Country Club outside of D.C., says that often you can fix this problem by just changing your setup.

“A lot of people don’t put enough weight on their front foot, and stand too far from the ball,” says Rose.

When you’re addressing a shot inside 30 yards, Rose says to stand a little closer than usual, grip down, put the ball in the middle of your stance, and keep most of your weight on your front foot.

The big move here is standing a closer. When you stand a little closer, the butt end of the club becomes more upright. This is good because the club needs to be coming into the ball with a descending angle of attack, says Rose. If you’re coming in really flat, you’re going to blade it. (Yikes.) But if your angle of attack is steeper, the ball will pop up.

Rose says to think of your arms and the club as a big ‘Y’ at address. When you take the club back, you need to make sure that Y stays in tact, and the same when you come back through.

This will help you let the club bottom out. The ball will pop up into the air, and land softly by the pin -- instead of steaming straight across the green.


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