Chipping Tips for Beginners Using Video | One Simple Fix

It’s one of the most frustrating feelings in golf. You’ve hit a decent drive, a solid approach, and now you’re just off the green. An easy up-and-down for par, right?

Then it happens. You either slide the club right under the ball, sending it a few feet in a sad little pop-up (a "chili-dip"). Or you catch it thin, sending a screaming line drive across the green and into the bunker on the other side. A simple par has suddenly turned into a potential double bogey.

If you’re a beginner golfer wasting shots near the green, two points matter. First, this miss is common. Second, a simple practice checkpoint may be more useful than rebuilding the entire motion. Video can add visual evidence, but it cannot explain everything about the shot.

That’s where your phone’s camera can help. This guide focuses on chipping tips for beginners using video and follows a simple framework: one visible issue, one likely reason, one fix, and one drill to test.

Quick Answer: One Chipping Pattern Video May Help You Check

One common visible chipping pattern is a "flipping" or "scooping" motion in which the clubhead appears to pass the hands near impact. That pattern can accompany fat or thin contact, but one camera view cannot prove the impact conditions or what caused the result. Use the arms-and-shoulders triangle as one practice feel, then judge the test with contact and ball roll.

The Honest Caddie: Why Video is Your Best Friend

Before examining the technique, it helps to understand video’s role. Feel and visible motion may differ, so slow motion can provide a useful comparison. Camera angle, frame rate, and image quality still limit what can be inferred.

Treat phone video as one visual checkpoint. Record with your camera app first, then choose one clear MP4 or MOV clip no longer than 15 seconds and submit that single file at /upload. Chubbs AI can flag one visible observation and suggest one likely explanation and drill to test; it does not provide exact measurement, an objective assessment, or a root-cause diagnosis. Submit any later chip as a separate upload.

For many beginners, a wristy flip is one useful pattern to check first.

The One Issue: The Wristy "Flip" at Impact

Take a look at a video of a professional golfer chipping. Now, imagine filming your own chip shot. What’s the biggest difference you’d likely see?

For 9 out of 10 beginners, it’s what happens with the hands and wrists right at the moment of truth: impact. The most common and destructive flaw is the wristy flip.

This is the motion where, in an attempt to help the ball into the air, your trail hand (the right hand for a right-handed golfer) breaks down and scoops at the ball. The clubhead accelerates past your hands right before contact. Instead of striking the ball with a descending blow and the shaft leaning slightly forward, you hit it with the clubhead traveling upwards.

What the Flip Causes:

Thin Shots (Skulls): The leading edge of the club strikes the equator of the ball, sending it low and fast across the green. This happens when the clubhead's low point is just behind the ball.
Fat Shots (Chili-Dips): The club hits the ground well behind the ball, digging into the turf and losing all its energy. The ball pops up weakly and travels only a few feet.
Inconsistent Distance: Because you're manipulating the club's loft and impact point with your hands, you have no reliable way to control how far the ball travels. Every chip is a guess.

This one simple flaw is the source of immense frustration. It makes you feel like you have no touch, no control, and no hope of getting the ball close to the hole. But understanding *why* you do it is the first step to fixing it for good.

The One Reason: The Instinct to "Lift" the Ball

Why might a golfer flip the wrists? One possible reason is the instinct to lift the ball.

When you see a golf ball sitting on the grass, your brain tells you that to get it airborne, you need to get *under* it and lift it up. It’s a natural thought, but in golf, it’s completely wrong. It’s an instinct that you must un-learn.

The golf club is a remarkable piece of engineering. The loft on the clubface is specifically designed to get the ball in the air for you. Your job is not to lift the ball. Your job is to deliver the club to the back of the ball with a slight downward strike, brushing the grass just after contact. The loft does the rest.

When you try to "help" the ball up with a wristy scoop, you are fighting the very design of the club. You're adding loft you don't need and changing the low point of your swing arc, which is the recipe for inconsistency.

The reason you flip is because you don’t yet trust the club to do its job. Our fix is all about building that trust through a simpler, more reliable motion.

The One Fix: Maintain the Triangle and Lead with Your Hands

The antidote to the wristy flip is a simple, repeatable motion that relies on your bigger muscles, not the small, twitchy muscles in your hands and wrists. We’re going to turn your chipping stroke into a miniature version of a putting stroke.

Here’s the setup and the motion that will change your short game.

The Setup: Building a Stable Foundation

Stance: Take a narrow stance, with your feet only a few inches apart. This discourages swaying and promotes a simple, rotational motion.
Ball Position: Place the ball in the middle of your stance. For a slightly lower, running chip, you can move it back an inch.
Weight Distribution: Lean gently toward the target so that about 60% of your weight is on your lead foot (your left foot for a righty). Your weight should stay there throughout the entire motion.
Hand Position: This is crucial. Press your hands slightly forward, toward the target, so they are ahead of the golf ball. This creates a little bit of forward shaft lean. Your arms and the club shaft should form a lowercase "y" shape.

This setup pre-sets a proper impact position. Now, all you have to do is preserve it.

The Motion: Rock Your Shoulders

From this stable setup, the chipping motion is incredibly simple.

Imagine a triangle formed by your shoulders and your hands. Your goal is to maintain this triangle throughout the swing.

The Takeaway: Start the motion by rocking your shoulders away from the target. There should be very little, if any, wrist hinge for a basic chip shot. Your arms, hands, and the club move back together as one unit.
The Downswing and Impact: Rock your shoulders back toward the target. That’s it. The key is to feel like the butt end of the club grip is winning the race against the clubhead. Your hands *must* lead the clubhead through the impact zone.
The Finish: Allow the club to swing through to a short, controlled finish, with your chest facing the target. The triangle should still be largely intact.

How Video Confirms the Fix

This is where you become your own coach. Set up your phone on a small tripod or lean it against your golf bag to film your swing from a "face-on" perspective.

When you watch the replay in slow motion, pause it at the exact moment of impact.

The "Flip": If you're flipping, you will see the clubhead has passed your hands. The shaft will be leaning *away* from the target.
The "Fix": With the correct motion, your hands will be clearly ahead of the clubhead. The shaft will be leaning *toward* the target. This is the tour-pro impact position that guarantees a crisp, descending strike.

Seeing this visual difference is a powerful "aha!" moment. If you're struggling to see it or aren't sure what to look for, that's a perfect time to get a second set of eyes on it. For feedback grounded in your clip, upload a clear swing video for a video-informed Chubbs AI review; to add context, start an AI coaching conversation.

The One Drill: The Landing-Spot Ladder Drill

Now that you know the correct motion, you need to ingrain it. Drills are essential for turning a conscious thought into an unconscious skill. The Landing-Spot Ladder Drill is perfect for this because it trains both your technique and your feel for distance.

The Goal: To control your carry distance by changing the size of your shoulder rock, not by using your wrists.

The Setup:

Go to a practice chipping green. If you don't have one, a well-manicured park will do.
Take three towels, headcovers, or alignment sticks.
Place the first towel about 5 paces away from you on the green.
Place the second towel about 8 paces away.
Place the third towel about 11 paces away.

These are the rungs of your ladder.

The Execution:

Start with the first, closest towel. Using your new "maintain the triangle" technique, hit 5-10 balls with the sole intention of *landing* the ball on that towel. Don't worry about the roll-out for now; just focus on the carry.
Pay attention to the size of your backswing. For this short shot, it will be a very small shoulder rock.
Once you feel confident you can consistently land the ball on or near the first towel, move to the second towel at 8 paces.
To hit the ball farther, you don't swing faster or flick your wrists. You simply make your shoulder rock a little bigger. The length of your backswing determines the distance.
Hit 5-10 balls to the second towel. Find the right size swing that carries the ball to that spot.
Finally, move to the third towel. Again, lengthen your backswing slightly to achieve the required carry distance.

This drill is brilliant because it forces you to rely on the size of your body turn for distance control. It eliminates the instinct to get "handsy" and builds a reliable connection between the length of your swing and the distance the ball flies.

Your Path to a Better Short Game Starts Today

The gap between frustration and confidence often narrows with a clear plan. A wristy flip is one pattern to test, and maintaining the arms-and-shoulders triangle is one practice feel to try.

Use the camera in your pocket as one source of visual evidence, then check the idea against contact and ball roll.

Film one representative chip, note the visible pattern, and use the Landing-Spot Ladder Drill as a practical test. Track the strike and landing result before deciding whether the cue is useful.

If you are still unsure, submit one pre-recorded clip to Straight Line Golf Pro for a video-informed Chubbs AI observation and likely drill hypothesis. The report is a practice starting point, not a guarantee of chipping it close.

Chipping Tips For Beginners Using Video: One Clear Fix For Real Golfers