{"id":779622,"date":"2026-07-05T01:10:28","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T01:10:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/779622\/"},"modified":"2026-07-05T01:10:28","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T01:10:28","slug":"master-this-simple-move-to-transform-your-short-game-and-your-swing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/779622\/","title":{"rendered":"Master this simple move to transform your short game \u2014 and your swing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph first\">Most golfers have been taught to keep their heads down when chipping. But according to three-time major champion <a href=\"https:\/\/golf.com\/news\/padraig-harrington-busy-pro-golfers-need-reality-check\/?srsltid=AfmBOortikALNv0mApzxVLlfCUCRgI9mDIgEZsCjKb3t5mn6LhU-eXF_\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Padraig Harrington<\/a>, the opposite feeling may be the key to cleaner contact, more spin and a better short game.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The secret? Learning to use the ground.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you watch elite players closely, you\u2019ll notice something most amateurs haven\u2019t mastered quite yet. As the club approaches impact, they apply pressure to their lead foot and then rise up through impact.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019re not trying to stay down. We\u2019re not trying to keep our head down,\u201d Harrington says. \u201cI\u2019m actually pushing myself back up with that left foot. It gives an absolutely beautiful strike.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s a subtle move that\u2019s almost impossible to spot at full speed, yet it plays a major role in producing those crisp, spinny chips.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While it\u2019s difficult to detect in another golfer\u2019s swing, it\u2019s surprisingly easy to learn yourself.<\/p>\n<p>Train ball-first contact with a simple alignment stick drill<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As Harrington demonstrates, a simple alignment stick drill is a great way to groove this feeling. Just place a stick\u201a\u2014 or other alignment tool \u2014 on the ground to mark the midline of your stance. Then, play the ball two or three inches in front of it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Your objective is simple: strike the ball without touching the stick. If you can consistently miss the stick, you\u2019re training yourself to bottom out after the ball, producing the clean, ball-first contact every good chip requires.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Once that strike becomes second nature, add in the pressure shift. As your club approaches the ball, press into the ball of your lead foot and allow that pressure to push you upward through impact.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cGet yourself left. Stay left. You have to trust that, okay?\u201d Harrington says, \u201cWe don\u2019t want any of this backing up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An easy way to check whether you\u2019re doing it correctly is to look at your lead leg after impact. If your lead knee remains bent, there\u2019s a good chance your weight has drifted back during the swing. If your lead leg has straightened, you\u2019ve likely used the ground properly.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf your knees bend \u2026 that\u2019s because your center of mass has gone backward and that\u2019s counterbalancing it by going forward,\u201d Harrington says.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhereas, if you get yourself left, you\u2019re just going to post up like so.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Perhaps the biggest benefit is that this feeling doesn\u2019t stop at your short game. The same pressure shift and ground force that Harrington teaches for chipping are a fundamental part of an athletic full swing. Master it around the greens first, and you\u2019ll not only hit crisper chips with more spin, but you\u2019ll also build a movement pattern that carries through the rest of your game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Most golfers have been taught to keep their heads down when chipping. But according to three-time major champion&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":779623,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[64,63,755,85],"class_list":["post-779622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=779622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/779623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=779622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=779622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=779622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}