John Daly's trusted one-arm chipping drill, explained

John Daly has about as home grown a golf swing as you can think of, but it’s often from those kinds of players that we can learn the most about the games. Daly’s game was forged through trial and error. Everything he knew about golf, he taught himself.

Which brings us to last week, at the PNC championship, when we were treated to some video footage of the legendary John Daly hitting these one-handed flop shots. It’s something that Daly does before every single round he plays, and outside of it just looking really cool, there’s a good reason why.

Why John Daly practices with one arm.

“It’s to keep my left forearm from turning over,” Daly said. “My swing is so long that I tend to roll over the clubface. I did it so much I even had trouble with chips. This helps me practice holding off the clubface.”

Swinging with only his left arm means helps him feel like his left elbow faces the direction he’s trying to hit his shot, a feeling which he uses when he returns his right hand to the club, and takes full swings.

It’s a kind of insurance policy against hitting shots left, and a simple way to sync-up his move before he hits the course.