When is a chip not a chip? And when is a golfer actually a glofer?

I used to obsess about the long game. Chipping and putting just didn’t do it for me. I know, I know – “scoring is all about the short game”. In which case I wasn’t interested in scoring. Just striking.

Fundamentally, though, I thought I was already a pretty good chipper. I just needed to put in the hours, that’s all. I could do it already. I was just a bit rusty.

How wrong can you be?

Since my last visit to Knightsbridge Golf School (KGS) – and what with the rain and wind and dark evenings - I’ve spent the last few weeks on my chipping.

Not practising. I always think that word suggests just doing more of the same, while hoping for better results (that’s Einstein’s definition of insanity, isn’t it – doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result?).

No, I try not to practise. I try to change, or refine (in my case, still a lot more changing than refining). Trying to chip differently. Or, more exactly, trying to hit the ball properly.

It’s been a revelation. Until spending an hour on the short game with Dave Lamplough at Knightsbridge recently, I used to chip using my arms and hands. There was no body turn, just a bit of body slide. And it worked. Sort of. Some days. Some holes. 

Basically, I could not chip. It was more a chop, or a chap, or a chep. As in I still don't play golf, I play glof. An approximation of what I am supposed to be doing.

Now I’m basing my chipping on a body turn, no independent arm or hand compensations and a small downward press of the right hand to compress the ball. It feels better and it sounds better.

And, of course, this does not merely apply to chipping either. It applies to the impact zone in my full swing as well.

So a chip is not a chip after all. It’s also part of the full swing.

PS Oddly, learning to chip is affecting my long game as well. It’s making me want to be more precise. And by turning through and beyond impact, rather than sliding, my left arm feels as if it is doing something completely different. It feels as if my left arm is not chicken-winging through impact any more. Instead, it’s staying straight and helping to retain the inverted triangle shape of the arms and shoulders.

According to the new KGS book, provisionally entitled “Golf’s Golden Rule”, this is good. It should be more accurate as well as powerful. I’ll let you know the results when I next get the time to play a round. When it stops raining.