Tyler Ferrell is the only person in the world named to Golf Digest's list of Best Young Teachers in
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The block and hold chip technique is a very simple movement of the body. The arms are going to do very little, but they are not frozen. The biggest difference in the feel of the swing will be the interaction with the ground. In the block and hold technique, you will be using the leading edge (dig side) of the club head. Depending on the firmness of the ground, this will cause the club to dig into the ground. You have to make sure that you hit the ball first or else this shot will be a disaster. To ensure that you hit the ball first, make sure your upper body shifts toward the target in the backswing and keeps going that direction during the downswing. That piece is universal to all good finesse strokes.
Tags: Drill, Intermediate
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In this drill video, we're going to go for the block and hold chip.
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So this is the chip shot that most of us were taught when we were growing up and that I think
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it's still pretty good for beginners to try and emulate.
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So the block and hold technique is basically you are going to lock out your arms, not
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forcefully locked them out, but they're going to stay pretty straight and you're going
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to play the ball in your furthest back ball position.
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Then you're just going to have that left tilt of your upper body during your backswing
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and then keep going left and rotate during your downswing.
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Now this becomes harder and less useful when you play really nice golf courses that
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are firm and fast or as you get into more loft, this can be a tough technique to use
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because of the dig of the club.
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So the block and hold technique is going to have the same setup position you're just going
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to put it in your furthest back ball position and then from here you're going to shift
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left during the backswing and then left during the downswing.
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And you'll see that we call it the block and hold because basically if you were to look
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at my hands they are basically still in this position.
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I haven't released the way that I like to teach in the finesse wedge swing.
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So just so you can see that difference if I were to do the true finesse wedge, it would
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finish more kind of in here pointing at me as opposed to their pointing behind me.
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So that block and hold still has a fair amount of arm extensions still has a fair amount
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of body movement just doesn't let the hands release and it can be very good for beginners
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to learn how to control the swing with their body as opposed to using the hands.
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It's definitely limiting so work your way out of it but it's also a good shot to have
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if you have to hit the ball with a lot of run and you have to hit the ball really low.
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So it's the block and hold chip shot and it's a good thing to have in your arsenal.
