Sportsline USA - John Daly - Hitting It Short

I would say that a top-notch short game is even more important in match play than it is in stroke play. Let me tell you, an opponent who is getting the ball up and down from tough situations is the hardest guy in the world to beat at match play. It's not only because he is saving strokes, but he is also unconciously getting under his opponents skin while he's doing it.

Chipping
How To Control Distance The inability to control distance on chip shots is one of the most common problems among weekend golfers. In most cases, this is due primarily to a fault at impact; the typical player contacts the top of the ball and not its back center portion and thus imparts too much overspin on it. The root cause of this type of this type of mishit is losing the flex in the knees when the club enters the impact zone. When the knees lift, the club lifts, thus hitting the top of the ball. To lock your lower body in place, address the ball with your knees a liitle more flexed and turned inward.
How To Control Direction If you hit the ball the proper distance but your direction is off, there is too much play in your grip. Either you are using the wrong style of grip or the pressure in your right hand is too light. To attain a more secure hold on the club, try the following: Assume a reverse overlap grip by draping your left forefinger over the first three fingers of your right hand. Grip a bit more firmly with all the fingers of your right hand.
Spot On The art of chipping not only demands mastery of a stroke, it demands that you take into consideration the speed and break of the green. Watch any pro and you'll see that he stares at a small area of green where he wants to land the ball. Depending on the slope of the green, this spot is either in line with the hole or to one side of it. Depending on the speed of the green, this spot is either close to the hole or farther away from it. The next time you chip, plan on hitting your spot - and you'll hit the hole.
Pitching
Prime Cut If you face a short pitch and the pin is cut very close behind a bunker, you must impart extra backspin on the ball so that it bites once it lands on the green. To accomplish your goal of stopping the ball quickly, you must hit a cut shot by: Assuming an exaggerated open stance. Swinging the club outside the target line on the backswing. Swinging down across the target line coming through, while holding on more tightly with your left hand to delay the normal release of your hands through impact.
Slow Down Tip A smooth tempo is very important to successfully playing a soft lob shot around the green. If you are one of thise golfers who tends to lift up the club quickly at the start of the backswing, pull it down hard, and fly the ball over the green, this tip will help you slow down your swing: Simply count one (asyou start the swing), two (as you swing to the top), three (as you start down), and four (as you follow through).	Stop the Shank Shot When the movement of your body and the movement of the club are out of sync, you will often hit a shank - a shot that flies off the clubface at a right angle. A shank results when you contact the ball with the hosel or shank of the club located near its neck. This hosel hit indicates taht your swing path is out-to-in. To promote the proper down-the-line hit on the sweet spot of the club, place a foot-long cardboard strip parallel to the target line and about three inches outside the ball. If you hit the cardboard before the ball, you'd better work on flattening your backswing - taking the club more inside the target line - as that will promote the correct downswing path.
Sand Play
	Get a Grip When a Ball lies in the sand and the pin is cut close to the bunker lip nearest you, you must hit the ball higher than normal and impart extra spin on it. To do both of these things, hold the club with your hands turned much more to the left than normal. As a checkpoint, the V formed by the thumb and forefinger of each hand should point to your chin. This grip change will allow you to cut across the ball, take a fine cut of sand, and put a high degree of stop-spin on the ball.
Don't Look at the Ball Concentrating too hard on the ball is a big reason why amateur golfers become tense in bunkers and end up hitting a bad shot. When I'm faced with a normal sand shot, I forget about the ball and focus on a spot about two inches behind it; that's where I want my club to contact the sand. This mental key will ensure that you always hit the sand first and never the ball - hitting the ball, ironically, is the worst thing you can do when playing out of a greenside bunker.

Chipping

How To Control Distance

The inability to control distance on chip shots is one of the most common problems among weekend golfers. In most cases, this is due primarily to a fault at impact; the typical player contacts the top of the ball and not its back center portion and thus imparts too much overspin on it.

The root cause of this type of this type of mishit is losing the flex in the knees when the club enters the impact zone. When the knees lift, the club lifts, thus hitting the top of the ball.

To lock your lower body in place, address the ball with your knees a liitle more flexed and turned inward.

How To Control Direction

If you hit the ball the proper distance but your direction is off, there is too much play in your grip. Either you are using the wrong style of grip or the pressure in your right hand is too light.

To attain a more secure hold on the club, try the following:

Assume a reverse overlap grip by draping your left forefinger over the first three fingers of your right hand.
Grip a bit more firmly with all the fingers of your right hand.

Spot On

The art of chipping not only demands mastery of a stroke, it demands that you take into consideration the speed and break of the green. Watch any pro and you'll see that he stares at a small area of green where he wants to land the ball. Depending on the slope of the green, this spot is either in line with the hole or to one side of it. Depending on the speed of the green, this spot is either close to the hole or farther away from it.

The next time you chip, plan on hitting your spot - and you'll hit the hole.

Pitching

Prime Cut

If you face a short pitch and the pin is cut very close behind a bunker, you must impart extra backspin on the ball so that it bites once it lands on the green.

To accomplish your goal of stopping the ball quickly, you must hit a cut shot by:

Rough Shot

Assuming an exaggerated open stance.
Swinging the club outside the target line on the backswing.
Swinging down across the target line coming through, while holding on more tightly with your left hand to delay the normal release of your hands through impact.

Slow Down Tip

A smooth tempo is very important to successfully playing a soft lob shot around the green.

If you are one of thise golfers who tends to lift up the club quickly at the start of the backswing, pull it down hard, and fly the ball over the green, this tip will help you slow down your swing: Simply count one (asyou start the swing), two (as you swing to the top), three (as you start down), and four (as you follow through).

Stop the Shank Shot

When the movement of your body and the movement of the club are out of sync, you will often hit a shank - a shot that flies off the clubface at a right angle.

A shank results when you contact the ball with the hosel or shank of the club located near its neck. This hosel hit indicates taht your swing path is out-to-in.

To promote the proper down-the-line hit on the sweet spot of the club, place a foot-long cardboard strip parallel to the target line and about three inches outside the ball. If you hit the cardboard before the ball, you'd better work on flattening your backswing - taking the club more inside the target line - as that will promote the correct downswing path.

Sand Play

Get a Grip

When a Ball lies in the sand and the pin is cut close to the bunker lip nearest you, you must hit the ball higher than normal and impart extra spin on it. To do both of these things, hold the club with your hands turned much more to the left than normal. As a checkpoint, the V formed by the thumb and forefinger of each hand should point to your chin.

This grip change will allow you to cut across the ball, take a fine cut of sand, and put a high degree of stop-spin on the ball.

Don't Look at the Ball

Concentrating too hard on the ball is a big reason why amateur golfers become tense in bunkers and end up hitting a bad shot.

When I'm faced with a normal sand shot, I forget about the ball and focus on a spot about two inches behind it; that's where I want my club to contact the sand.

This mental key will ensure that you always hit the sand first and never the ball - hitting the ball, ironically, is the worst thing you can do when playing out of a greenside bunker.