How an elite coach with a short game has determined my chipping in just 5 minutes

Welcome to playing Smart, a regular game allowance column with golf.com that will help you become a smarter, better golfer.

I had always heard that Parker Mclachlin, also known as the short game chef, was a genius around the greens, but until last winter I had never witnessed it. Then I received a five -minute lesson from the man himself who completely changed how I approached shots with short games.

It was last December in Cabot Citrus Farms in Florida, and the brightest spirits in golf instruction had gathered for the annual Golf Top 100 Teacher Summit. As an editor for improving a game improvement, my role is during this conference to record content with teachers, who we then roll out on Golf.com the following year. Once I saw that Parker was present, I knew that I had to film some content with him.

Watch the video below where I get a short chipping lesson from the short Gamekef chef itself.

This lesson changed my chipping

Having a variety of photos in your bag around the greens is all good and good, but for most recreational golfers it is much more important to have a stock, reliable chip. If you can get Real Good in one simple shot, you start to come up and down more and shoot lower scores.

So how can you develop this stock photo? I asked Parker a question and his answer was not what I expected.

“How I like to look at it is that I am all in the same family,” he said. “It’s the same release family.”

In essence, all these recordings share a similar movement. Your trailhand is the dominant hand and you use your body turn to do most of the work. When building a simple, stock chip shot, this is a crucial fundamental to keep in mind.

Then Parker explained four clubs on the ground in front of me: a 5 iron, 7 iron, 9 iron and gap -wig. My goal was to learn how he could get close to the pin with all four of these clubs.

Now I am not someone who often looks at the bump-and-run, but under the leadership of Parker I started to understand why the shot is so reliable. Everything I had to do to make a predictable shot with each of these clubs was the same feeling as I would do with my movement.

“If you practice this exercise here,” said Parker, “you will be really good and you will become more comfortable.”

How to generate spider

The use of your large muscles and trusting a put or bump-and-run movement may not seem as if it would be conducive to generating spider, but to my surprise it actually made it easier than ever before. The only thing needed was a simple tweak in my technique.

If you are something like me, if you have to make a short game recording with a lot of spider, you use your wrists and hands to generate speed. This technique can Work for certain recordings, but it is completely unnecessary on a stock pitch recording.

After I had seen a few pitch shots, Parker noted that I made a big backswing with a huge wrist hinge and then delayed with the sequel to arrange the distance. The technology has worked for me in the past, but it is not the most consistent way to hit the shot. Instead, he recommends that I will continue to use the pitching technique that looks like work.

When making these recordings, Parker instructed me to use my body as the engine of movement. In essence, the feeling should be to hit the shot by turning your body instead of just waving your arms and hands. After I started to concentrate on this feeling for the shot, I was surprised about how much extra turn it on my shots produced.

‘[You’ve] Started to deliver some speed in the right place, “said Parker.” And for a short recording like this, delivering speed is super important for access to spider. “

Just like that, the light bulb went off. To generate spider, I only had to take a shorter backswing and then really to accelerate the impact zone, use my body as a motor to produce the speed.

Shortgam Chef.comMade by PGA Tour -winner Parker Mclachlin, golfers offers an extensive source to improve their short game. Thanks to personalized tips, exercises and expert insights, Parker helps players of all levels gain more confidence and a deeper understanding of their short game to lower their scores. You can Browse here through membership options.