ROTATING THE HEAD TOWARDS the target during the downswing is something
many great players do to complete their full swings. Dustin Johnson, Henrik Stenson and Annika Sorenstam come to mind. This technique also can help your chipping – especially if you chunk these shots a lot. Just like for a full-swing iron shot, the goal in chipping is to strike the ball before the club hits the turf. If you redirect your attention to a spot in front of the ball when you practice, you’ll help get your body to rotate towards the target in the through-swing, which is key to making ball-first contact. You don’t slap at the ball; you swing through it. You can see here that I’m looking ahead of the ball before I hit it – and I keep rotating my head after impact. Doing this allows me to make a smooth swing, letting the ball get in the way of the correct tech- nique. Give it a try, and if it helps your contact and control, remember how this feels when you go back to looking at the ball on the golf course. JESSICA DICKSON, a former Golf Digest Best Young Teacher, is director of instruc- tion at Shadow Wood Country Club in Bo- nita Springs, Florida.
“Redirect your attention to in front of the ball.”
PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHRIS SHONTING
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