Expert Advice for Beginner Golfers: Top 20 Tips and Exercises from Our Professional Team

In the world of golf, mastering the short game can be the difference between a good round and a great one. To help amateur golfers improve their chip shots, pitches, and bunker play, we've compiled a list of 20 top short game tips from the extensive experience and knowledge of Golf Monthly Top 50 Coaches.

Issues with club release: Keep the hands soft and let gravity do its work. Try taking your left hand off to allow the right hand to play a more significant role.
Compact sand in greenside traps: Steepen the attack angle to release the club while keeping the leading edge down. Place the ball just back of centre and lean your whole body towards the target.
Practising hybrid chips one-handed: This can help retain connection with the ball.

Tip 3: When chipping from wet lies, avoid digging the club into the ground by really using the bounce on your wedges, setting the club a bit more open at address, and letting your left hand weaken slightly in your grip.

Deceleration on chip shots: Keep the backswing shorter, get your weight on the front foot, grip down a little, and aim to just bruise the turf under the ball.

Tip 4: To stop scooping chips, have your upper arms resting on your rib cage, hold your palms with your little fingers together, and get used to rocking your shoulders and rib cage, but not your hands and arms.

Improving chipping strike: Your hands should move gently inside, back to impact, and gently inside coming through. Use alignment sticks to create a visual for this arc.
Chip and run shot: Use a mid- to short-iron, stand a bit closer, grip down a touch, and rock the shoulders exactly as you would when putting.
Plugged lie in a bunker: Keep the face square or slightly closed with more weight on the lead side, then muscle it out somewhere via a full-ish swing with lots of speed.
Bare lie chip: Lift the handle of the club slightly to encourage the toe to sit closer to the ball, with the heel elevated above the grass. Stand a bit closer to enhance control and maintain an upright shaft angle throughout, keeping those high hands.
Short pitch shots: Set the ball a little behind the sternum, with just a little forward shaft lean at address, and maintain your weight distribution during the swing.

Tip 9: A drill to develop a solid strike is chipping balls at, or just over, an umbrella in the garden. Focus on having more follow-through than backswing and committing to the shot.

Hands too far forward at address: Keep the ball position a little further forward, with limited shaft lean, and ensure the sternum is in front of the ball at address, at the top and at impact.
Lob shot off a tight lie: Push the ball a little further forward in your stance at address, focus on keeping the hands very soft with lots of wrist hinge in the backswing.
Good contact nearer the bottom of the club while retaining the loft: Set the ball in the centre of the stance without too much forward shaft lean.
Driving range practice: After a driving range session, divide short game practice into thirds: establish weak areas, work on those areas or specific techniques, and have fun putting it all into practice.
Thin chips: Thin chips occur when the body stops and the leading edge drives down too quickly, or the clubhead overtakes the hands. Focus on finishing with chest and hips towards the target.
Ball too far back in the stance: Having the ball too far back in the stance on chip shots can cause fats and thins. Move the ball to the middle and set your weight evenly at address.
Downhill chip shots: Stand wider and put the ball back of centre in the stance. Don't rotate as you normally would - keep all the pressure in your lead leg and finish nice and short.
Club choice around the green: Improve club choice by taking various clubs to the chipping green, marking out landing zones, and noting how far the ball rolls out with each club.
After practice: After practice, divide short game practice into thirds: establish weak areas, work on those areas or specific techniques, and have fun putting it all into practice.
Chip off a bare lie: For chip off a bare lie, lift the handle of the club slightly to encourage the toe to sit closer to the ball, with the heel elevated above the grass. Stand a bit closer to enhance control and maintain an upright shaft angle throughout, keeping those high hands.
Develop a solid strike: A drill to develop a solid strike is chipping balls at, or just over, an umbrella in the garden. Focus on having more follow-through than backswing and committing to the shot.

While the best shortgame tip from the list of 20 top shortgame tips and exercises for amateur golfers recommended by the Golf Monthly Top 50 Trainers is not specified in the available search results, each tip includes a specific solution to improve performance around the green.

Expert Advice for Beginner Golfers: Top 20 Tips and Exercises from Our Professional Team