Use Your Pivot for Chips
the way back, shift your head down and towards the target as your weight moves to your front foot. Finally, as you swing into the ball, extend your legs, spine and head upwards while rotating your chest around ( above ). A word of caution: As you stand up through the shot, make sure your head isn’t falling away from the tar- get. That’s a common tendency, and it can cause fat and thin shots. Instead, keep the centre of your chest in front of the ball as you allow your head to rise and your chest to rotate through. You’ll clip the ball perfectly and gen- erate tons of spin every time.
mechanists Rob Neal and Layne Savoie, with whom I work closely, have identified using 3-D technology. The best chippers move their head down and towards the target as they swing back, and then stand up and rotate through the shot. This controls the low point, so they don’t stick the club in the ground. If you learn to pick the ball off the turf, you can chip off any lie. To practice this move, start with your feet close together and slightly open. Raise the handle a little to pre- vent the heel from digging and lean the shaft towards the target. Then on
ou might think that be- cause chip and pitch shots are short swings, you don’t need much body move- ment. That’s not true. There
should be way more dynamic motion on these shots. The best players clip the ball off the turf and create tons of spin by moving their body towards the target in the backswing, then standing up and rotating hard in the downswing. You heard me right: On chips and pitches, you should early extend and lift your head up slightly. This movement is called “pivot planing,” and it is something bio-
PICK THE EASIEST SHOT The best players can pull off any shot, but that doesn’t mean they always try for the flashy one. Lower scoring is the result of discipline. Often you don’t need the fancy chip or recovery shot to play well. Instead, choose the simplest shot that provides a positive outcome. Around the greens, that often means taking less loft and playing a running shot. Good golf is the compounding of smart, micro-decisions added up over 18 holes.
ABOUT MARK Mark Blackburn, voted No 1 by his peers on Golf Digest’s 50 Best Teachers in America, has coached dozens of pros, including Justin Rose, Max Homa, Collin Morikawa, Adam Hadwin, Daniel Berger, Charley Hoffman, Alex Fitzpatrick, Matthieu Pavon and Trey Mullinax. His golf academy is located at Greystone Golf & Country Club in Birmingham, Alabama.
GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA 85
MAY 2025
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