Scottie Scheffler was on an absolute tear in 2024, winning four times on the PGA Tour: the Arnold Palmer, The Players, The Masters, and the RBC Heritage. We all know how good he is off the tee and with his irons, but I believe his short game is massively underrated, so in this video, I break down his low-chip shot technique to see what we can learn.
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Scottie Scheffler Chipping Analysis: Set-Up
Scottie uses a high lofted wedge for these shots mainly due to the type of grass he plays on and stands very close to the ball. He plays the ball back in his stance to help take some loft off the club and steepen his angle of attack.
It’s probably not recommended to play your low chip shots with your most lofted club for the average golfer as it is pretty high-risk, but if you have the time to practice it and you want to play the low shot with spin then this is how you do it.
Backswing
Scheffler picks the club up on a steep plane with a closed club face. He uses his right wrist to hinge the club up, which puts his left wrist into a bowed position and closes the club face.
As the club moves back, Scottie Scheffler leans with his left hip forward towards the target, putting more weight on his front foot in the backswing.
All of these moves close the clubface, steepen the angle of attack, and moves the low point of his swing forwards. This is what produces a low flight with a high lofted club.
Downswing
Into the downswing is where we see the magic in Scottie Sheffler’s chipping technique. Because he has de-lofted the club in the backswing and already moved his weight forward well onto his front foot, he simply drops his arms down and requires no club manipulation.
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As the club swings down into impact, Scottie is actually starting to stand up and lift his head. You can see in the video and in the image below how he gains approximately 3 inches of height into the ball. This might seem crazy for those golfers who try to keep their head down, but this is what stops the wedge from crashing into the ground and digging.
Into the Finish
As Scheffler swings through into the finish he never really lets the clubhead pass his hands very much and holds a little bit of the angle of his right wrist, again because he is trying to keep the loft down and hit the ball low.
He continues to gain height into a tall finish and keeps the clubhead swinging down the target line for as long as possible into a very textbook finish position.
What can we learn?
This is a very different chipping style than the ‘shallow, brush the grass’ technique that golfers are generally taught when chipping with a lofted club. Scottie is a very steep chipper of the ball but manages it very well with good wrist angles and good head height management, which makes this technique brilliant.
If you want to master Scottie Scheffler’s low chip shot, do the following:
- Perfect set-up: ball back, hands forward, stand close to the ball.
- Wrist angles: pick the club up steep not by lifting it, but by hinging the trail wrist and bowing your lead wrist.
- Height management: stand up on the way down – do NOT keep your head down!
If you enjoyed this Scottie Scheffler chip shot analysis, keep an eye out for more tour winners’ swing analysis in the future.
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