STORK CHIPPING

May 12, 2014

What is most important when chipping? Contact, distance control or accuracy? Well for me it is Contact, for the simple reason is that good contact allows for good distance control and then accuracy is the only thing left to get and that will never be miles away on a short shot.

One of the biggest reason I see for poor contact is the inability to control weight distribution through out the shot. Even though people set their weight on their front side at set up they often fall onto their back foot through the shot or the head will move back away from the target on their down swing causing the weight to shift to far behind the ball.

What we need is one leg chipping! This is not a joke, one leg chipping or Stork chipping as I like to call it works great for focusing the body weight on the front leg and for keeping it their through out the shot.

Simply address the ball standing on your front leg, steady your balance and then hit shots. If you struggle with balance to start with you can place the toes of your trail foot very gently on the ground simply offering support, hit shots until you feel comfortable with keeping your balance with just one leg on the ground.

By placing just your lead leg on the ground not only will you have set your weight on your lead side but you will also know straight away if your head moves back excessively as you start your down swing as you will simply loose your balance. By keeping your balance on your lead side throughout the shot you contact will become just as good if not better than when you have two feet on the ground. I have students who I introduced this to ten years ago and they still hit shots standing on one leg.

So if you struggle with your contact on your short shots maybe you need Stork turns.