One of the important chipping tips I discovered is to keep my head still. Not down, but still. There is huge difference between the two and I will expand on that later. Making solid contact in the middle of my club face is always my goal. And over the years I have tinkered many different stances, grips, head positions, and ball positions. Yet, my successes continue to be hinged on one important swing trait: keeping my head still.

Before discussing my aspects of keeping my head still, I want to debunk the thoughts of keeping our head down. This statement is often misleading because by forcing my head down it generally pushes my posture out of position. I find that if I focus on keeping my head down, my eyes are not in position or alignment over the ball. Hence, rarely make proper contact when focused on keeping my head down.

Keeping my head still is another matter. It is the key getting up and down more often than not. The premise for my successful chipping tip is to place myself in the proper position with my eyes in a position half way between my feet and the ball parallel with my aim line. The reason I say to set up my eyes parallel to my aim line is because my ball position changes when I chip.

The intent during every chip is to keep my head still. I try to watch contact and hold my head in the at position for a count of one. Make no mistake, I try to keep my head still, but it does sway slightly to allow for the free movement of my arms and shoulders. I can feel my movement the proper movement of finishing position as my right shoulder forces my head to follow the ball flight.

When I do not feel my right shoulder against my chin, then I know I was not keeping my head still. Generally, my error is that I look to fast after my ball and it pulls my body out of position. Hence, I pull the ball off line to the left. This is a known, unfortunately repeated, fault in my short game. I try to focus on keeping my head still as often as I can, yet sometimes I just have to look. You can imagine what the results are.

Keeping my head still allows me to effectively chip with success. It allows my body to stay in the proper position longer, thus aiding the completion of my swing. It is a fundamental (stealing Jack Nicklaus’ word) and core tenet to making solid and consistent contact. When I can do this, only good things happen with my short game.

I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!