Golf Tips: Short-Game Myths

Many golfers struggle around the greens because they believe two popular, but incorrect, myths: "Keep your body still" and "chip like you putt." Here's how to erase them from your game.

Pitching: Let Yourself Go

Holding your body stock-still when pitching will turn your swing into a stiff, robotic motion, destroying feel and making it hard to achieve solid contact. Any shot longer than a putt needs some body movement to support the club's motion. Don't purposely move your body, but let it react to the momentum of the swing. You'll have better rhythm and make more consistent contact.

Putters are designed for a stance that sets the eyes directly over the ball and promotes a pendulum-like swing arc (far left). The chipping clubs are not. So trying to "chip like you putt" demands using an unnatural motion that fights the design of these clubs.

When chipping, stand tall with an open stance. The butt end of the club will be about a hand's width from your body, and your eyes well inside the ball. Swing the clubhead on a semi-circle arc from the inside, out to the ball, and back to the inside . You'll swing with less tension and better touch.