Day Six: Chipping the Leadbetter way

So, today I was back to chipping, but not with the 60 degree and those nice soft, fluffy chips.

At Penmar on Sunday, I found myself just off the green a few times. Where I was about 1 foot in the rough and about 3 feet of fringe then the green - with the pin anywhere from 6 feet to 20 feet away from me.

Last night, I came across this video by David Leadbetter which I found incredibly enlightening and simple:
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/cb-08ZBpsOMPNLzls0DDs12Pe_o9CqSgveC/david_leadbetters_tips_chipping/

The situation he shows is the same exact situation I found myself at Penmar. And now that I am cognizant of it, I am sure this situation comes up a lot during a round. So I set up my little station which had the pin located about 25 feet off the edge of the green, so with the fringe (3 feet) and rough (1 foot), I had about a 30 foot distance between me and the pin.

I grabbed my 9 iron and copied exactly what Mr. Leadbetter showed in the video - putting grip, narrow stance, move the hands, arms and shoulders as one unit and run the ball up to the hole. Leadbetter makes it look and sound so simple, because it is. I couldn't believe it. I was chipping balls well within the 3-foot imaginary circle. I had 14 balls and almost all of them I could have 1-putted. Amazing. The results were so amazing to me that I kept doing it over and over and over from different angles and distances and the results were all the same - I was chipping it tight. I couldn't believe it! I do not think I have ever had such command over a club and a shot in my life. This was truly an exciting moment for me. I must add that I did not use a glove - I realized that I like my hands to feel the club and the shot without the use of a glove. I had more 'feel'.

After about a half hour or so with my 9 iron, I switched to my PW and liked that, too. I got a little more loft with the PW with took some getting used to - had to give it a little more oomph - but alas, the David Leadbetter way had proven to be effective and consistent here, too. I used the PW for about a half hour before switching to my 60-degree a little farther out. I needed to change swings and go with a hinge-and-hold but I had the touch and the feel down - it was a nice rhythmic swing that produced nice results. I can not tell you how different the consistency of accuracy was with the 60-degree - after practicing for so long doing the Leadbetter technique - it was if the Leadbetter way paved the way for the feel needed for any type of chip and swing. Still, with the hinge and hold swing, I left balls 5 feet, 1 foot and 8 feet away. I left balls 5 feet left or 3 feet right. So as my chipping gets better and better, I see that I have something I can dial in and that is the 60-degree from about 40 feet out through a lot of rough.

All in all, it was a fantastic day of practice! I can not wait to chip again!