REAL Exclusive Magazine

Ever Duffed A Chip?!

By Jonathan Yarwood

Ever duffed a chip?! This may be why! The traditional way of standing is to move the weight forward. The problem is, the lower body weight goes forward and the upper body weight actually goes back. This has the effect of the club ‘bottoming out’ behind the ball. Try the way all my pros and elite amateurs chip, namely, set up with the upper body weight forward. Imagine your shirt buttons are ahead of the ball at address. This will allow you to hit the ball first and ‘pinch’ the turf with the club afterwards.  Another important thing that is often over looked by amateurs is how far away to stand. One of the ‘pro’s’ secrets is to stand very close to the ball. To the point where the ‘heel’ of the club comes off the ground slightly. Standing this close does several things, one, it makes the club stay in front of you going back and does not allow it to get ‘stuck’ behind you. Two, it allows your arms to be ‘linked’ to your body, so the bigger muscles eliminate the error inducing smaller ones to an extent. Thirdly, the heel of the club up in the air takes the ‘bounce’ out of the club and encourages a more solid contact. Try standing close with your upper body ahead and put a towel under your arms. Then make a rocking motion with your shoulders keeping the towel in place. That will give you a great feeling of connection and produce lovely consistent and solid chip shots!

Jonathan Yarwood was originally from the United Kingdom, but relocated to the United States in 1996. After a few years as one of David Leadbetter’s senior teachers, Jonathan branched out on his own and has enjoyed an extensive career with a track record that speaks for itself: He has coached, 2 US Amateur Champions including this years champion Ben An, 2 US Girls Champions and 1 US Open Champion in Michael Campbell in 2005. That is 5 USGA champs in 10 years, which is a record in itself. Add to that the four number one juniors, 3 AJGA players of the year, a collegiate number one, a male and female nationally ranked number one as well as a winner on every major professional tour, you have a record to rival the best. Jonathan was voted a Top 20 teacher under 40 years old by Golf Digest in 2006, after 5 straight years of being in the best teacher in state rankings for Florida.

But Jonathan remains humble and states he is ‘just a small part of their success’. He enjoys teaching people of every standard equally. Having a state of the art academy at The Concession with an indoor video suite and putting studio he specializes in all areas of the game, making it a ‘one stop shop’. For more information visit www.golfjy.com or call 941.322.1465.