I am a 7 handicap, and never shanked my chip shots for 35 years until I moved to Arizona.  Now once or more a round I will be chipping, usually with a little length or where I have to swing a little harder than normal, sometimes from very tight lies, often with a 60 degree wedge and the ball squirts low and right, usually resulting in a lost shot or two.  I have tried chipping from my heals, using a lighter grip pressure, trying to stay dead still, but nothing seems to work for very long.  Do you have any advice?

It’s never fun to have shanks pop up in your round and they really do hurt the score.  This is a hard one to diagnose without watching you do it.  However a couple of things come to mind:

You may want to try a different wedge.  Your 60 degree wedge might have too much bounce for the tight Arizona lies.  It’s possible that the heel is digging in and the face is coming open, causing the shank. Take a look at the Momentus Short Game Wizard.  They offer several different lofted wedges, the club itself uses similar technology to the training clubs and they are USGA approved.

Another thought I have is maybe you are bringing the club inside too much on your backswing, causing you to come too far from the inside and hitting the hosel at impact.  A very good training aid for chipping is the Chip-N-Pitch chipping trainer.

I hope this helps a little.  If not, I would suggest a short game lessong from a PGA/LPGA professional.  You can locate one in your area at www.findalesson.com.

Elaine Crosby is a 19-year veteran of the LPGA Tour and a member of the Women’s Senior Golf Tour.  If you have a question for Elaine, please email us at mailto:info@practicerange.com?subject=Ask the Pro.