OAKMONT, Pa. — For Austen Truslow, chipping one-handed started as a drill nearly a decade ago. The idea was to expose the bounce of his wedge, to use the club the way it’s designed to be used. A few months later, it hit him.
“Over time, I just became a better chipper with one hand,” Truslow told the USGA in 2023.
Truslow was on the Oakmont range on Wednesday morning working on the eye-popping technique in the middle of a lengthy range session. He is playing in his second U.S. Open this week, having qualified via a 2-for-1 playoff at Emerald Dunes Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Fla., nine days ago. Truslow and Luke Poulter, the son of European Ryder Cup legend Ian Poulter, both shot 36-hole totals of 10 under before Truslow edged him in sudden death.
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Here’s a look at Truslow’s odd method:
This is, quite literally, not a drill for Austen Truslow, who is playing in his second U.S. Open this week. He chips one-handed.
Said at LACC in 2023 that it started as a drill until he realized he simply chipped better that way pic.twitter.com/NUQJj9EBSc
— Christopher Powers (@CPowers14) June 11, 2025
Another thing you might notice is Truslow’s left hand, specifically his pointer and middle fingers, stuck in his back pocket.
“I switched to that when I was injured, 2021, 2022,” he said on Wednesday morning. “I hurt my left wrist and I didn’t play for 20 months. Had a lot of time to chip, and I found that if I put [my left hand] in the back of my pocket, it helped me turn and collect the club better through the ball.”
Truslow says that he’ll use this method for shots with a maximum of 25 yards of carry. And, this might sound obvious, but the lie has to be “relatively” good.
Unfortunately, relatively good lies will be few and far between at Oakmont, where the impossibly long rough has been a hot topic among media and competitors this week. So if you’re on the grounds and hoping to see Truslow’s one-handed action in action, you might end up disappointed.
“There’s a good chance I don’t hit one shot one-handed this week. The rough is too thick,” Truslow said. “And a lot of the time when you’re in the fairway or fringe around the green, you’re just putting. I could hit a one-handed chip on 18 if I end up short of the green, maybe a couple other places, but for the most part, unless I get a really good lie close to the green, I probably won’t hit a one-handed shot.”
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This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
