While giving some short game lessons this past week I noticed I was saying the same three things over and over.

Narrow your stance, choke down and stand closer to the ball.

Is it possible to stand too close to the ball? Yes is the short answer.

However, most amateurs stand to far away from the ball, especially when chipping.

Stand as close as you comfortably can, so your arms are hanging down.

Narrow your stance. When hitting a short shot, you are not looking for power, you are looking for touch and softness. Narrow your stance to keep the power down.

Choke down. Try even choking down to where your two fingers are actually below the grip on the shaft. This will put you in a stance similar to your putter where you can stroke the ball rather than making a big powerful swing.

Do these three things and watch your scores go down.