Your approach shot comes up just short of the green. This leaves you with a fairly straightforward chip to a back-hole location about 60 feet away. You might be tempted to grab your putter and try the old Texas Wedge, but there’s an easier way to get it close. What you need is some “hook” spin. As you know from hitting a hook or draw off the tee, this makes the ball roll out further. That’s the best way to add some run to your chip shots.
Start by choosing a lower-lofted wedge or 9-iron. Stand a little closer to the ball than usual, which helps steepen your angle of attack for clean contact. Put the ball back in your stance, with your feet and shoulders slightly right of your target, the clubface square. As you swing back, you feel like the clubhead tracks more towards your trail foot, and your hands finish near your trail hip pocket (top). From this inside backswing position, swing down and out to the right of your target through impact (below).
JD Cuban
If the clubface stays square through impact it will actually be closed relative to the inside-out path of the club. This produces a low, tumbling shot that starts a little to the right, then spins left, similar to a bump-and-run. Give this hook-spin technique a try next time you need more distance from a chip shot.
Jackson Koert, a Golf Digest Best Young Teacher, is the director of instruction at Atlantic Beach (Fla.) Country Club.
