Stop Being The Guy Who Sculls It Across Every Green

When you're dealing with a reoccurring error in your game, it’s best if you figure out why something is going wrong. That makes it a lot easier to fix. If you’re sculling balls across the green every time you try to hit a chip, you need to know that it’s usually because you’re hitting up on the ball. You want to be hitting down on the ball. So that means you want to catch the ball earlier in your downswing.

Butch Harmon says start with your setup. He recommends putting 75 percent of your weight on the front foot. The ball should be in the middle of your stance.

“To make sure you hit down, get the club up in the backswing,” says Harmon. “Hinge your wrists abruptly, then pull through with your left hand. Keep your weight forward throughout the swing.”

That’s a good sensation to pay attention to: If your left hand is guiding the impact, you’re going to naturally hit more down on it. This is a very different feeling for a lot of people -- they're worried they’re going to just chunk it and the ball won’t launch at all. But don’t worry, your job is just to catch the ball on the downswing and swing through; the loft of the club is going to do all of the work getting the ball up in the air.