Whenever I start chipping, I will always incorporate turning my big muscles as I warm-up. When I don't turn my big muscles is when the hands can get too involved and thus can cause 'thin' shots and 'fat' shots. The closer we get to the green, it is easy to feel that we only want to engage our small muscles but the biggest improvement is when you can still turn through the ball no matter what distance.
One of the great drills as mentioned before is just using the right hand to chip. What I do is place my left hand on my right bicep whilst placing 60% of weight on my front foot and practice turning back and through just using my right hand. This is a great drill as it not only encourages the big muscles to dominate the action but allows the right arm to follow the chest. This then enables the arm to fold and release through impact enabling you to utilise the loft of the club effectively.
Even without doing this drill just ensure that during your practice swings that you practice rotating the body through the ball and ensuring the weight is fully on the front foot at the end of your chip. I also ensure my chest turns through as well as where the centre of the chest is, is where the club will typically bottom out. Once you have started to turn through the ball, you should start to feel the club starting to release through the impact area. Releasing simply means that just after impact, the butt end of the club should be pointing at the left hip.
Now once I have the feeling of turning my body, I then incorporate some turning of the clubface. This means that on the backswing I allow the clubface to open. This greatly helps the strike as when you open the face, you will tend to utilise the bounce of the club more effectively. This means the club will be less likely to 'dig' through impact.
If you'd like any further help in executing short chips around the green just book in with myself at David Waters Golf.
