There’s a short-game ‘death move,’ Jordan Spieth’s coach says. Here’s how to fix it

Are you drop-kicking pitches or chips? (It’s OK to say yes. This is a safe zone. In fact, the author does, we’ll say, occasionally. Let’s continue.)

Are you blading pitches or chips? (Again, all good. The author is prone to this, as well. It’s the worst, seeing that ball shoot past the hole like an F1 car. Oye. OK, back to the story.)

Cameron McCormick has a thought as to why. 

He was talking this week through a post on his Instagram account, where he’s shared a collection of golf lessons, when the GOLF Top 100 Teacher’s not coaching Jordan Spieth and a host of other pros. This post was labeled “avoid this chipping death move” — catchy — and he identified it quickly in the accompanying video. 

“This is a pitching and chipping death move that I want you to avoid at all costs,” McCormick said. “What I want you to avoid [is] tipping your upper body at all to the trail side of your lower body. 

“It’s the reason you might hit the ground first or alternately blade it.”    

For a right-hander, that’s a right lean. For a left-hander, left lean. Doing so decreases the chances of good contact. 

The fix is easy then. Sort of. 

“So how we going to improve our contact?” McCormick asked in the video. “We’re going to tip our upper body to the lead side and keep it there throughout the stroke, whether we’re hitting low shots or lofted shots.”

For a right-hander, that’s a left lean, and for a left-hander, right lean. Of course, you might not fully know where you’re tipping your body, at least at the start. 

Here, through his post, McCormick suggested taking an alignment rod, placing it vertically along your back and shooting a face-on video. Like he did.  

Give it a shot. We’ll wait. 

…

Once you’re back, we’ve recently written a few more short-game stories, should you be in the market for such advice.

— Here’s GOLF’s Nick Dimengo, through GOLF Top 100 Teacher Brech Spradley, on a “glue” drill. 

— Here’s GOLF Top 100 Teacher Carol Preisinger on a secret to lofting chip shots over hazards. 

— Here’s Parker McLachlin, a GOLF Top 100 Teacher to Watch, on a simple key to executing chip shots when under pressure.    

— Here’s Dimengo, through GOLF Top 100 Teacher Kevin Sprecher, on how to “shave off up to 10 shots” by mastering chips from tight lies. 

— Here’s Dimengo, through GOLF Top 100 Teacher Trillium Rose, on a “safer” option around the greens. 

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Nick Piastowski

Golf.com Editor

Nick Piastowski is a Senior Editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his role, he is responsible for editing, writing and developing stories across the golf space. And when he’s not writing about ways to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native is probably playing the game, hitting the ball left, right and short, and drinking a cold beer to wash away his score. You can reach out to him about any of these topics — his stories, his game or his beers — at nick.piastowski@golf.com.