[mrodock]

As someone who is terrible at chipping. would you recommend Stan's book as a good start? Or maybe some other DVDs etc out there? At the moment I guess I mostly try to hit down on the ball. Sometimes with disasterous results.

As far as hitting down on chip shots, the more you hit down on them the less margin for error you have. If you lean your weight left, have your hands way forward and pick the club up and hit down you have to catch the ball just perfectly not to hit it fat or thin. My feeling is that the flatter plane Utley recommends will almost immediately result in consistently better results, no more terrible shots provided the left wrist is kept flat through the impact interval. I power my short game shots with the right forearm, keeping the left wrist flat throughout and allowing my arms to work more around me. This makes clean contact much simpler than some other techniques. You can do a search for Seve Ballesteros on youtube, seeing his technique never hurt anyone.

Matt