In his heyday, Brooks Koepka had one of the best short games in professional golf, and his uncanny ability to get the ball up and down more often than not enabled him to win five major championships.
Incredibly, Koepka won more major championships than regular events during his time on the PGA Tour.
That has changed for him since joining LIV Golf, with five victories on the Saudi-backed golf league compared to one major at the PGA Championship in 2023.
However, Koepka has actually really struggled on LIV over the seven months, and he will need to dust himself down and start a fresh during the off-season.
The five-time major winner hasn’t been anywhere near his best for quite some time now, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t someone who we can all still learn from.
Koepka’s pitching and chipping were the bedrock of his incredible success in the majors from 2017 to 2019 and then again in 2023.
Now he has offered up some advice to help amateurs deal better with tricky lies when they’re chipping around the greens.
Brooks Koepka’s tip to stop amateur golfers ever duffing a chip again
It’s common knowledge that if you work hard on your short game, your scores will improve dramatically.
The ability to get up and down on a consistent basis makes up for the odd poor golf shot here and there.
And if you’re a golfer who wants to get your handicap down, look no further than the advice offered below by Koepka.
While playing in the Pro-Am at Wentworth ahead of the BMW Championship, Koepka offered some chipping advice for his playing partners.
The tip focused on what to do when faced with a bad lie around the greens.
He said: “If you were chipping from here to there, turn the toe in. It won’t duff. If it’s a really tight lie or a weird situation where the grass isn’t good, get a hair closer to it and turn the face in. You’re only going to hit it a hair thin, you won’t ever duff it. The worst thing you can do is leave it where you’re at.“
A warning for amateurs regarding something they should never do when chipping
We have received advice from Koepka regarding how to make the most of bad lies around the greens.
Now we have the opportunity to learn from one of the best in the business with a wedge in his hands, none other than Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald.
The Englishman explained how to perfectly execute a chip that runs out towards the hole.
“The goal in chipping is to get the ball pretty low with a descending blow and get the ball rolling end over end.
“The motion is like you’re going to throw it underarm, and get it pretty low, end over end.
“The way to do that obviously is through good setup. I tend to weaken my left hand grip a little bit. I’m getting the club more upright, so I’m standing close to, standing a little bit taller. I’m leaning my body slightly to the left but I’m also leaning the shaft with it.
“So if you notice, the shaft and my spine are in one line. You never want to get the shaft in a different line to your spine because you’re not trying to get the ball up, and that’s the worst way to create solid contact.
“For good solid contact, you want to weaken that grip, lean the shaft a little bit towards the target with your body and from there it’s really just a small motion of swinging those arms downwards and letting that ball come out low with a lot of roll.“
Donald is unquestionably one of the best chippers of all time, so if you take his advice, as well as implementing Koepka’s tip for how to best deal with tricky lies around the greens, your handicap should come down in no time.
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