Are you struggling with your chip shots?  Are you finding yourself hitting way behind the ball or sculling the ball over the green?   These miss hits can totally destroy your confidence and cause your frustration levels to rise.  There is an easy fix and it can be corrected with just a few of the following key tips.  

First, we must identify and understand the problem and the reason why this happens. These miss hits are a result of improper positioning with your weight and improper positions your head and spine.  To better clarify, please refer to the following photos and you will be able to see what an incorrect and correct position would be at set up and at the impact position.  The incorrect photo shows a set up with my weight favoring the right side of my body with the spine and head tilted back to the right.  This position will increase your chances to hit behind the ball or to come up and catch the middle of the ball with the club head resulting in a sculled shot.

1. Stocking cap - Simple enough, but I have found that keeping you’re head warm will help keep your entire body warmer.
2. Compression Shirt - This is a relatively new piece of clothing in the market place, but a compression shirt is a skin tight shirt that helps block any cold winds of the day and allows for you to stay warmer and swing away without that bulky clothes feeling.
3. Turtle neck shirt - I like to place a turtle neck shirt over my compression shirt for added protection of my neck area. 
4. Rain Pants - I have found through years that if your lower body stays warm, the rest of your body will stay warm as well.  In addition, I feel more stable and grounded in my swing when I where the rain pants.

Having the ability to hit more consistent short wedge shots will lower your score significantly.  The 30 to 50 yard wedge shot falls right into our scoring zone area and is crucial to execute for scoring well.  This shot is typically challenging for the mid to high handicappers because the swing required is 1/2 to 3/4 of our regular swing, which becomes difficult to gauge.

So, if you find yourself hitting this shot too far, fat, short or if you feel like you’re totaling guessing as to the distance of this shot try the tip below the next time you’re practicing.

This tip will help you with a tricky shot that happens all too often. 

This tip takes us to the base of the green on hole #2 at the Conservatory Course at Hammock Beach Resort.  If your second shot comes up short of this green, your ball will more than likely roll back down the fairway cut and into the tightly mown collection area.  With the green and pin located well above the ball, the impending shot is daunting for the majority of golfers.

This shot is difficult as you are challenged to get the ball up and over the false front of the green.  Many times I see players trying to lob the ball up over the hill with a sand wedge, resulting in leaving the ball short and rolling back to the golfer’s feet.

Are you looking to make a bigger shoulder turn in your backswing?  If so, try this drill next time you are on the practice range. 

Simply take your backswing and stop, as illustrated in the first picture.  Once you have stopped, take a look behind yourself.  As you rotate your head to the right to look behind yourself, your shoulder turn will increase significantly.  Notice how much my shoulder turn increased once I looked behind myself.  Do this several times in your practice swings and you will be amazed at the increase in your shoulder turn.