Master The Matt Fitzpatrick Drill To Improve Your Chipping
In this video, PGA pro Dan Grieve explains how this cross-handed drill can improve your chipping
![PGA pro Dan Grieve hitting a chip shot at Infinitum Golf Resort in Spain](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/s2fQiqWftJn5dDs4UNEvFK-415-80.jpg)
Whether it’s chunking or thinning, lots of amateurs struggle to make consistently good contact when chipping, which saps their confidence and costs them shots. In the video and article below, short game guru Dan Grieve runs through a cross-handed drill that will improve your technique and get you striking your chip shots better.
So flipping when you chip is a real common fault among amateurs and what I mean by that is the right hand wants to take over, which causes the lead or left hand to break down. That's going to result in some really poor contacts, particularly the thin shot that rushes over the other side of the green and potentially into more trouble.
So the drill you can do or even maybe play with - as someone like 2022 US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick has done very successfully - is the cack-handed drill. So for a right-handed golfer, this means putting your left hand lower on the grip than your right. It's the opposite for left-handers.
What you'll find when you do this is that it levels your shoulders, which is what you want. With amateurs, something I see all the time is a big upward shoulder tilt, which results in the low point of the swing moving being too far back.
Flipping through impact when chipping is a common fault in amateurs
So by levelling the shoulders, that's going to encourage you to rotate better and get the low point just in front of the ball to hit those nice crisp chip shots. So left hand low, nice level shoulders, and you'll see when I hit the shot in the video above, how the finish there is nice and crisp and there is no breakdown of the wrists.
So if you struggle with your chipping and flipping your wrists through impact in particular, try this drill. Over time, it'll really improve your technique and get you striking the ball much better.
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Location: Woburn GC
Dan is one of the leading coaches in the UK, a Fellow of the PGA and a short-game virtuoso. He has had considerable success with a collection of tour pros, helping them to Order of Merit titles and major victories, and his Short Game School is the most attended in the UK. His students, past and present, include Charley Hull, Georgia Hall, Inci Mehmet and Iona Stephen.
Most common problem:
Swing – over the top , help by getting the basics correct at address and making them aware how to get the club online coming down.
Short game – creating spin and feel around the greens, help by educating on what the short game actually is (weak on purpose) and understand bounce and how they can apply it to different lies/situations.
Greatest success story:
Helping Georgia Hall from World No. 450 to No. 6 and winning a Major, two Order of Merits and Solheim Cup appearances.
Greatest teacher:
Alex Hay was a great influence during my first few years at Woburn. In sport more generally Sir Clive Woodward has taught me how to deliver at the highest level.
Most common fault:
Flipped right hand (hands behind the ball). Understand a correct coil/load going back and how to sequence better coming down so the chest opens up and gives the arms space to deliver a stronger impact. Lots of body action drills to enhance the feel, with and without the ball.
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