Mark Blackburn was voted No. 1 by his peers on Golf Digest’s 2026-’27 ranking of The 50 Best Teachers in America. In this series, “What the Pros Do That You Don’t,” Blackburn highlights the key adjustments that tour players make to play the right shot at the right time.
The first question pros ask themselves when they get to their ball is, What’s the lie? Analyzing how the ball is sitting and adjusting your technique to accommodate the lie is crucial. Average players rarely do this. Take this nasty lie in greenside rough (above). Pros know that if they used a standard chipping setup and swing here, the club would get snagged in the grass coming into impact.
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When the ball is sitting down like this, take your highest-lofted wedge and open the clubface. The big key, though, is to get nearly all of your weight on your lead leg, leaning your whole body toward the target. You can see me demonstrate the bad setup above before I show what you should look like. Notice how in the good version it looks like I’m “sitting” into my left leg. This creates a very steep swing, where the clubhead drops onto the ball, not behind it. Hinge your wrists (below) as you take the club back to further ensure a steep angle of attack.
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Another mistake with this shot is not swinging hard enough to get to the green. Hit this shot twice as hard as you think you should. The resistance of the rough will deaden the blow. Play it like a bunker shot: Open the face, lean left and swing hard. This shot takes full committment—notice how hard I’m swinging and how I keep my weight on my front leg. Practice this a little bit, and you’ll start to hit these explosion shots more like the pros.
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Blackburn’s new book, The Coaching Code, is out October 1. In it, he explains the concepts he has used in coaching dozens of tour players, including Justin Rose, Matt Fitzpatrick, Max Homa and Collin Morikawa. Blackburn is a Golf Digest Teaching Professional.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
