There are few things more defeating in golf than duffing a chip shot. So often, I see amateurs who have the ability to get the ball around the golf course, yet once they get near the green, it suddenly looks like they’ve never made an athletic movement in their lives.

The short game is the low-hanging fruit in golf, and with a proper understanding of how we’re trying to move the club, it’s one of the fastest ways to save strokes. Today, we’re going to talk about the chunked chip shot and how we can begin eliminating it from our games.

One of the common patterns I see in double-digit handicappers is excessive knee movement during the chipping motion — specifically during the downswing. As the player transitions from the top of the swing, the knees begin dipping down toward the golf ball. When this happens, the head, shoulders, and ultimately the club all move closer to the ground. The result? The club bottoms out early, and we lay the sod over the golf ball.

Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to spend time with renowned short-game coach Parker McLachlin, and he actually noticed this exact move in my own swing.

When we watch great short-game players, one of the things that stands out is how well they control the low point of the swing — or where the club contacts the ground in relation to the golf ball. My mind immediately goes to players like Seve Ballesteros and Tiger Woods. If you watch their motions closely, you’ll notice the stability in their knees throughout the swing. There aren’t any excessive or sudden movements happening in the lower body, which allows the head and chest to remain a consistent distance from the ground throughout the motion.

The drill pictured in this article is one Parker had me work through during our session together. We placed a tee halfway into the ground — yes, a tee for chipping practice.

From there, the goal was to feel tall through the legs and allow the shoulders to rock more like a putting motion. The objective is to clip the ball cleanly off the tee while striking it around the fourth groove of the clubface.

I recommend starting this drill with a pitching wedge or even a 7-iron while making a smaller, putting-style motion. Once you begin developing that feel, remove the tee but maintain that same tall, stable feeling in your setup. Allow the shoulders to continue turning while the club lightly brushes the grass, again making contact around the fourth groove.

If we can gain awareness of our knees, keep them tall and stable throughout the motion, and allow the shoulders to control the movement, we’ll start finding much cleaner contact — and eliminate the forever frustrating chunked chip shot.