How to Stop Chunking Chip Shots: 7 Proven Tips & Drills to Hit It Clean Every Time

As an amateur golfer, you should expect to miss some greens in regulation. It comes with the territory.

However, when you chunk a chip shot, you just took a missed green and turned it from a potential up and down par to a double bogey.

The chunked chip is a common miss. We will show you why you do it but most importantly, how to fix it. Many times, the chunked chip is easier to fix than you may realize.

How to Stop Chunking Chip Shots (Key Takeaways)

To stop chunking your chip shots, there are a few key things that you must consider and then adjust to start hitting your chips cleanly.

• Wrist action in the chipping stroke is minimal, but it is there, and it does need to be done correctly; a little flexion at impact is important.
• Make sure the stance is narrow, with the ball positioned a little further back from this position. You can make that clean ball first contact.
• Bounce on a wedge is your friend; use it to sweep through the grass instead of letting the club dig into the ground.

Why do I Chunk My Chip Shots

Chunking chip shots happens for a few different reasons.

The more important part of this puzzle is fixing the chunk shots; here are the things that could be causing the chunk:

• Wrists are flipping, causing the club to strike at the wrong point.
• Stance is too wide.
• Swing plane is over the top or too steep.
• You are slowing the club down through the ball.
• The ball position is too far forward in the stance.
• Your weight is positioned on the trail leg.

7 Proven Tips to Stop Chunking Your Chip Shots

These 7 tips should help you eliminate your chip shots for good. Each of these is designed to be a simple and quick fix.

You don’t have to spend hours on the chipping green to get great at the basic chipping motion. The things that take time are working on feel and distance control.

1. Keep Your Wrist Flexed, Don’t Flip It

A slightly flexed lead wrist position is ideal at impact with a chip shot.

Those who chunk often find too much flexion and almost a stabbing motion down into the ground or a flip where the wrist moves into an extended position and causes the club to bottom out.

Think about your wrist at setup. You should have a slight forward press and a slight flexion or bowing in the lead wrist position.

As you swing back on these shorter chip shots, that position should remain the same throughout the swing. Return the club to impact with a slightly flexed lead wrist position, and you’ll notice crisper and cleaner chip shots.

Wearing HackMotion can tell you exactly what your wrist is doing in your chip shots now and then guide you to what it should be doing in the future.

2. Get the Stance More Narrow

A wide stance is a major mistake when chipping. It tricks your body into thinking you need power, like a full swing, instead of the few yards you’re actually trying to cover.

Narrow your stance. Many golfers even chip with their feet almost touching, and that’s perfectly fine. A compact setup encourages clean, consistent ball-first contact.

3. Move the Clubhead Through the Ball Every Time

Another major cause of chunking is stopping at the ball or slowing down through impact. To stop chunking, it’s important to swing through the ball every time and accelerate.

The golf ball is not the end of your chipping stroke; it’s the middle.

One way you can do this is to take some practice swings, where you just take the club back and forth without stopping at the ball. Instead, you just go back and forth and get that feel for accelerating through the shot.

You also should focus on incorporating a bit of a lower-body turn. This lower-body turn also pulls the club through impact much easier than your arms, wrists, or hands will.

4. Strike Ball First

Many chunked chips happen because golfers don’t know what proper contact looks like. The key is simple: hit the ball first, then the grass. There’s no need to scoop or try to lift it in the air.

Focus on striking down and through so the club brushes the turf after contact.

A good drill is placing a tee just ahead of the ball and aiming to hit both. You can also picture striking the bottom-back half of the ball for cleaner, more consistent chips.

5. Put Weight On Forward Leg

If your weight gets caught on your trail leg, it’s common to chunk your chip shot. Instead, when you set up, put about 60 to 70 percent of your weight on your lead leg.

As you swing back, a small amount of this may transfer, but for the most part, it will stay toward the lead leg.

From here, you can ensure you make that ball first contact and never chunk again.

6. Shallow Out the Backswing

A steep backswing often leads to chunked chips. This happens when you get too wristy and lift the club straight up, sending it back down at a sharp angle into the turf.

Instead, focus on shallowing the backswing. Keep the club moving more level to the ground, as if you’re sweeping it across the grass rather than chopping down on it. Avoid rolling the club inside, just let it track back smoothly.

A helpful image is to picture the ball sitting on thin ice. Your goal is to clip it cleanly without breaking the ice, which forces you into a shallower, more controlled motion.

7. Use the Bounce (and the Right Club)

Bounce is built into your wedges to keep the club from digging into the ground, and it’s one of the best tools for avoiding chunked chips. Let the bounce skim across the turf so the leading edge doesn’t stab down.

Different clubs offer different amounts of bounce and versatility. A sand wedge with higher bounce can help in soft lies or rough, while a pitching wedge or gap wedge with less bounce might be better on tight lies.

Learn to match the club (and its bounce) to the shot, and you’ll find it much easier to make crisp, consistent contact.

Drills to Stop Chunking Chips

Implementing any of these fixes above can make a real difference in your chipping game.

You’ll have to practice them on the chipping green before heading to the course. However, as soon as you get the feeling down, the results can be seen immediately.

Here are two more drills to try if you want to stop chunking chip shots.

HackMotion Wrist Check Drill

Chunked chips often come from flipping the wrists through impact. This drill teaches you to maintain a stable, slightly flexed lead wrist and lets HackMotion confirm your angles in real time.

Cross-Handed Chipping Drill

If your trail hand gets too active and causes fat shots, this drill helps quiet it down. The cross-handed grip exaggerates forward shaft lean and makes ball-first contact easier.

Trail-Hand-Only Drill

This drill improves feel for the bottom of the swing and trains you to brush the turf after contact.

By isolating the trail hand, you’ll build touch without stabbing down into the ground.

Final Thoughts

At this point, you have no reason to chunk another chip!

Your chipping stroke should be much cleaner and simpler with these drills and techniques. You’ll get the ball closer to the hole and be able to score lower.

Consider using HackMotion in your chipping routine. Once you have your wrists in the proper position, you can swing through each chipshot with confidence.