A common mistake that amateurs make around the greens, especially in tight lies, is that they tend to try and help the ball up in the air. That can cause you to chuck, thin, or even shank shots, leading to bogey or worse. In this Play Better Golf segment, Wilson Staff ambassador, Mike Small, gives us a helpful tip to help you hit it close from tight lies, save par, and shoot better scores.

Hi, I’m Mike Small, Wilson Staff ambassador here to help you with a quick tip of hitting a sand wedge off the green from the tight lie. A lot of the amateurs I see when they play golf when they’re off the side of the green with a kind of a tight lie think they have to help the ball in the air and get it up and it helps to have it land softly. In essence that’s wrong, you have to hit down on the golf ball to get it up with some spin.

The way you do that is be sure you set up to it with your weight forward. Putting your weight forward when you chip encourages a downward motion of the swing. At the same time, you have to keep your left wrist flat through impact and rotate through the shot. A lot of amateurs sit here and they want to help the ball up into the air, thinking they have to get it up in the air. Do not help it up, do not break your wrists, stay down through it, keep a firm left wrist and swing along your toe stance line.