Butch Harmon was instrumental in helping Tiger Woods become one of the greatest chippers of all time.
As Tiger Woods’ golf coach for 11 years, including during his early 2000s dominance, Harmon has honed the skills of some of the greatest players to ever pick up a club. Harmon has also worked with the likes of Greg Norman and Phil Mickelson, helping them to multiple major championships.
He’s coached the all-time greats, but Harmon also has some simple drills for amateur golfers to work on their games. He even has a cure for one of the most horrific feelings in golf: the yips.
We’ve all been there. You chunk or thin so many chips that you become scared to hit one. Suddenly, the club doesn’t feel like it belongs in your hands anymore and you throw it at the ball. Harmon’s drill settles those mental thoughts and helps you get back to basics with your short game.
Butch Harmon’s drill to fix the chipping yips
The drill Harmon suggests for amateurs to overcome the yips in their short game reteaches them to keep their hands ahead of the ball.
He said that when amateurs struggle in the short game, it’s because they get too handsy, and they try to scoop the ball up instead of hitting through it.
Speaking on Golf Digest’s YouTube, he said, “Do you struggle with your little chip shots around the green? Gosh, I hate to say this word. You have the yips. Let me show you what happens, and then I’m going to show you how you can get out of it.
“Well, when you have the yips, what happens is as you come into this chip, your left arm just stops and freezes and you just scoop at it with your right hand.
“Those of you who have struggled with this shot know the feeling because you’re like this. You usually will bone it across the green or hit it fat.
“So, here’s what I want you to do. I want you to hit some chip shots. And as you come in, just let go of the club with your right hand and keep your left arm going because the yips are caused when the left arm stops and the right hand takes over.
“Normal setup, ball back, hands forward. Let the left keep going. If you let the left arm keep going, you get out of those yips.”
After some time working on this drill, you will begin to feel like you have more confidence and conviction when driving your hands forward during a chip.
Tiger Woods’ chipping drill to practice hitting a landing spot
Woods is a “spot chipper”, meaning he likes to pick out a spot on the green to land his ball, knowing how far it will roll out. He uses two clubs on the green in order to practice flying his ball out to a specific spot.
Woods explained, “I like practicing with clubs in different spots, like I have to fly the ball over that spot. I have two clubs [lying on the green], and what I would practice at home, to put clubs down, and then I like to hit different shots to that over that club, imagining like that’s where the green’s edge is.
“I’m more of a spot chipper, so I like to have landing spots where I want the ball to land, and to me, this gives me a good visual to practice at.”
If you want to practice lofting a chip high and landing it in a tight window, this is the drill for you when you have some time on the chipping green.
It’s perfect for practicing making a short-sided shot with not much green to work with, or making a chip over a bunker into a tight window.
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