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Even Tiger Woods turned to Jason Day for chipping advice, so how can we miss his latest tips now? He is one of the best in the short game and has released a masterclass titled How Not to Chip on the YouTube channel The Lads. Here, he talked at length about five common mistakes amateurs make when chipping.

For starters, he feels that the setup in terms of body weight distribution has a huge bearing on whether a chip has the potential to be a good one. He advised golfers to have a balanced stance rather than a really wide or narrow one. He also specified the ideal range of the gap between the two feet.

“So essentially, what we want to do is we want to make sure that if this is a wedge stance, we want to have a quarter of that. So we’re looking at somewhere between 6 and 10 inches,” he said in the video. He also emphasized the importance of weight distribution and positioning, urging players to ensure that their setup allows them to “lightly lift the trailing foot off the ground.”

Next, he stressed the importance of the club’s positioning mid-swing. He mentioned that he has seen golfers getting their clubs too far inside their hands, making it difficult to hit the ball cleanly. As per Day, the club needs to be in line with the hands to maximize efficiency.

“What we need to do is that when we take it back, we need to make sure that we take it back very neutrally, where the club is through the hands on the way back and vice versa on the way down. Club is in line with the hands on the way back. Never this way,” he explained.

Next, he mentioned that despite having a steady setup, good positioning, and a neutral club swing, a few golfers are unable to maintain a good head position. What happens is that their head tends to fall back as their club goes forward. He urged those struggling with this problem to imagine a wall next to their head to better position themselves.

“An easy fix is just to get a camera out and see what you’re doing. So, if I’m standing in there, I want to make sure that I take the club back, and on the way down, I want to feel like there’s a wall here, a hand here, and a wall here. Doesn’t matter what it is. So, as I’m coming through, I want to make sure that that doesn’t back up,” he said.

Next, he spoke about the problems that can occur when a golfer’s body is out of sync. He mentioned that if the body is moving too much, things can go wrong. He explained he uses a towel to keep his arms locked. This in turn helps his arms follow the course of his body.

“So, for me, how we solve that is that we go in here with a towel, and this is something that I have always used throughout my career. Sometimes when I’ve been chipping so long that I don’t really get too disconnected from my body, to my arms, but something that you can do is really lock these arms to your body. So, I’ve got this towel under my armpits, and it’s locking me in right now. So, wherever I move, my arms are going to go with it. That’s essentially what we want. We want the body as the engine to be able to move, and the arms, hands, and club are just along for the ride,” Day said.

Last but not least, he spoke about golfers struggling with tempo.

“A quick drill that you can potentially do in the wintertime, especially for us up here in Ohio or the Northeast or the Midwest, is grab a Tempo app on the App Store. The first beep is when you go, and the second beep should be the end of the backswing. The third beep is impact. So, we want to train that over and over again so that when we come out in spring and whenever you’re ready to go and play, you’ve worked on that tempo. You don’t have that quick change of direction, and things are flowing nicely,” he explained.

Now, let usee revisit the time when Tiger Woods turned to Jason Day for advice on his chipping.

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Tiger Woods sought Jason Day’s help to improve chipping

In his video with Grant Horvat, Day recalled a time when Woods messaged him, complaining about how, while using TaylorMade clubs, he keeps skying it to the top of the driver head. Day suggested Woods “just tee it down lower.” Day then hilariously mentioned that Woods did not take the advice, instead opting to trim the tees.

Day also mentioned that in 2015, a period when he enjoyed immense success, Woods called him over for help with his chipping. “When Tiger was going through the chipping yips, Tiger invited me out to kind of go over chipping technique,” Day had mentioned after clinching the 2023 AT&T Byron Nelson title.

Notably, Woods and Day share a strong friendship that has lasted over a decade. The two have publicly shared a lot of mutual respect, having also publicly praised each other on more than one occasion. Day has also shared on numerous occasions the key factors that have helped Woods secure a lasting legacy in the sport.