Golf Practice Drill #32 – Chip It In Drill

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Okay, now let’s get into today’s golf practice drill which we call The Chip It In Drill.

What this Chipping Practice Drill Works On

I love how the chip it in drill will work on multiple things at once, which puts it at the top of my list when I’m creating new practice routines of various chipping drills.

The things that get worked on by completing this chipping drill include:

#1: Learning how to read greens

In order to chip the ball into the hole, you have to think of it like a putt and read the green to learn how the ball will roll once it lands on the green.

This helps build your green reading skills and visualization skills by picturing your chip shot landing and then rolling to the hole. Learn to look for slope that could move the golf ball left or right. If it’s downslope, factor that in for chipping power, and the same with upslope.

#2: Distance Control

When you attempt to chip the golf ball into the hole, one thing that can get lost if you’re not careful is distance control. It’s easy to hit chips with too much power and when they don’t go in the hole, you find yourself with a long putt coming back to the hole.

Instead, put effort into chipping the ball with distance control, trying to land it a certain distance from the hole to give it the correct distance left to roll the remaining distance.

The sooner you can get the ball onto the green and rolling like a putt, the better chances you’ll have of making the chip in.

Avoid trying to fly the ball almost the entire distance to the hole and dunking it. You’re better off hitting a bump and run style chip shot that lands quick and rolls most of the distance to the hole like a putt.

Focusing on distance control during this chipping drill will hone in your power and you’ll hit chips that end up much closer to the hole when you miss the chip in attempt.

#3: Picking the Right Line

It’s easy to mindlessly hit chip shots at a hole, focusing on just trying to get them close but not really focusing on your aim as well as you could.

With the chip in drill, it forces you to focus more on your intended line to the hole. You’ll have to pick out a target line to chip to the hole, which will produce much straighter, on-target chips that have a real shot at going in the hole.

Sometimes you may still pull a chip left or push the chip right of your intended line, but odds are you’ll have more chips staying straight as a result of the focus required to chip in the golf ball.

Picking the correct line is a backwards approach. First you need to determine how the ball will roll once it lands by reading the green and determining break / slope. Then mix this with speed control. How fast will the ball roll and how much power should you hit the chip shot with.

Once you know how the ball will roll, you’ll be able to pick the correct landing spot to aim at. Then setup to the chip and focus on the straight line between your ball and the landing spot. Practice hitting straight chip shots at this target landing spot trying to hit straight.

You’ll discover you have increased focus and you’ll be able to see chip shots that end up off line to the left or right now that you actually have an intended line of flight for the golf ball. No more mindless chipping.

How to Complete the Chip It In Chipping Drill

Start off by grabbing your chipping wedge and 10 golf balls. Using sets of 10 golf balls will allow you to get more volume of reps in to increase muscle memory and skill faster.

Walk onto the practice green and determine which hole you want to chip to for the Chip In drill.

Now find a location off of the green in the rough to chip from.

For beginners, I would recommend you start with a more centered hole location on the practice green that gives you some room to land the ball on the green and still have room to roll to the hole like a putt.

Drop some balls on the fringe or just off the edge of the green in the rough to start closer to the hole. As you improve and start chipping it in more consistently, then move back further away from the green, further into the rough. This will create chip shots that must carry farther in the air to land on the green.

Regardless of where you choose to start the drill from, the goal remains the same. Chip the golf ball into the hole.

Set down your 10 golf balls. Hit one at a time, focusing on where to land the ball and how far it has to roll and how it will break or move once it begins rolling.

Once you chip it in 5 times from your current location, then move locations to mix up the distance and angle to the hole you’re chipping from. This will change how the ball rolls (break in the green / slope in the green) forcing you to learn feel and touch again all over from this new distance.

Overall, this golf practice drill is effective at making you a better short game player and helping you lower your golf scores overall. Be sure to follow our YouTube Channel for video lessons, swing tips, and more golf drills.

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