In many ways, he was eliminating two shots. If you watched Todd Hamilton win the 2004 Open, you might remember that he used a hybrid almost like a chipper. The more you minimise the movement, the better your consistency will be. If the butt travels too far back or forward when chipping and pitching, it causes the bottom of the arc to change which causes inconsistencies. One of the biggest faults I see is people standing too far away from the ball, and having little control of the butt end of the club. That’s why a lot of pros stand with their feet close together when they’re chipping, so they can keep the centre of the sternum over the ball a lot easier. But regardless of the club change, stick to a vertical set up. If you want a high chip, use a lob wedge. If you want a slightly flighted chip, use a 9-iron. If you want to play a release chip, use a 7-iron. A lot of the time it’s about playing the percentages. ![]() He knew he could get himself into a lot more trouble by trying something so risky. He didn’t even try the shot, despite the fact he had been practising it. But in the tournament, he chose to chip it to the back of the green. In the practice round, he was landing it right by the flag, no problem at all. When I was watching Vijay Singh at the Masters a long time ago, he was right of the green on the 15th and playing a flop to a pin just over the bunker. You can save yourself a lot of shots if you keep things simple. Plus, they will only lose 10 per cent of their usual distance. Why? Because they will turn around a more consistent centre, and so the bottom of the arc will be more consistent as well. Their challenge is to get all five balls inside a total distance of 15 foot, otherwise they start again. ![]() So, if it’s a simple chip, they might say, ‘every shot within three foot.’ So, three times five is 15. ![]() I then ask them how close they expect to hit each ball. With the short game, sometimes I set a station up where they’ve got to pitch five balls to a flag. If they fail, they’ve got to start again. The challenge is to do them in the correct rotation. When I’m on the range with a player, I might set them a challenge of hitting nine shots: A low fade, low draw, low straight, mid fade, mid draw, mid straight, high fade, high draw and high straight. Players tend to forget what made them good, and often it all comes back to the basics. I set up a station and made sure the mechanics were good. We went back to basics and that sorted it. I was actually Irish coach when Rory was 14 so I knew his bunker play from back then and he had lost it a bit. At the Ryder Cup, I spent a lot of time helping Brooks and Rory in the bunker.
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