After you buy this, you won't need to be spending any time practicing your full swing.

Going forward, out on the golf course with your new swing, you are now going to be spending a LOT more time with second shots inside of 100 yards, so let's bone up on the shots in the "scoring zone."

Basically, the short game includes putting, chipping, pitching and lobbing your golf ball.

Putting: If your ball rests in the relatively short grass of the collar, which surrounds the green, putting might very well be your best option.

Gauge the amount of slightly taller grass that you will need to roll your ball through to reach the putting surface. Stroke the putt as you would any other, with the exception of the extra length of your stroke that will be required to move your ball over the taller grass.

The collar grass will have the effect of slowing the ball down because taller grass creates more friction.  Therefore, a putt from the collar will need to be struck more firmly than a “normal” putt of the same distance.

This option gives you the greatest margin of error making it the smartest and safest shot to play in this situation.

Chipping: Your second best option is to chip your ball. 

Basically, chipping is like a putt, but with any club other than your putter.  If you feel that you are simply too far away to putt your ball, then the chip is the shot. 

A chip is a shot that gets airborne for a short distance then rolls the rest of the way to the hole.

A chip shot is produced, by making the following adjustments in your set-up for the shot: Play the ball off of your back foot and stand closer than normal to your ball. 

I am of the opinion that you can’t have the ball back too far in your stance when chipping.  The reason you want the ball back so far is to ensure that you strike the ball first with a descending blow.

Placing the ball so far back in your stance also has the effect of putting your hands into a position where they are far, far ahead of the club head at address. 

They stay that far ahead throughout the entire chipping stroke. 

That action is super-exaggerated in the chipping stroke.  This is vitally important because the “hands ahead” position has the effect of de-lofting the club which produces a shot that comes off the clubface low and rolling.

Secondly, this is one of the very few times you’ll want your body weight fully into your left side throughout the shot.
 
Chipping is a “precision” stroke.  Just like a putt, a chip is a stroke used for accuracy, not power.  In other words, no power required from an "active body."

In golf, you will always be more accurate with the least moving parts.  Be “quiet” on your chip shots.

Generally, choose a club that will land your ball about two feet onto the putting surface and then let the ball roll the rest of the way to the hole just like a putt.

Because it IS very much like a putt and the ball will be spending most of the time rolling on the ground, you have to READ the green the same way you would with a putt.  Don't just focus on the hole.  You have to pay attention to the terrain that's BETWEEN you and the hole.

I only mention that because it's really easy when your intent is to "hole" a chip, to forget what the ground is going to do to the ball when it starts rolling.

Let the loft that is built into your irons get the ball in the air.  Don’t ever try to “scoop” or help your ball get airborne.

A chip is a very “level” stroke in which the club head doesn’t get much height back or through.  Therefore, you keep your wrists firm while chipping.

The feeling I like to have on chips is one of sliding a spatula under a fried egg.  Now....I'm hungry.

Do practice chipping with all your irons.  This is the only way to find out how your various clubs react to the chipping stroke.

Pitching: When you have a good bit of distance between you and the green and rolling the ball isn’t an option, pitching your ball becomes your next safest bet. 

A pitch is a shot that flies low in the air most of the way to your target and then rolls a short way. 

A pitch is in many ways, just the opposite of a chip.  You are trying to fly your ball most of the way to the hole and only have it roll just a little bit.

Luckily for us, we have a club, named aptly enough, the pitching wedge.  For most shot from 100-yards and in that require some “air-time,” the pitching wedge will be the club of choice.

Play the shot slightly back of center of your stance, and take your normal swing at the ball.  The loft of the pitching wedge will get the ball airborne quickly.

You needn’t try to “help” the ball into the air.  The extra loft of the wedge will do that for you.  Again, hands lead the club head through impact. 

This ensures a crisp strike.  The added loft of the wedge creates backspin that gets the ball up in the air and stops the ball relatively quickly when it lands on the green. 

The length of your backswing will be the way you control the distance the ball flies. 

You don’t want, or need, to vary the speed of your swing.  Use your normal 80-percent effort.  To control how far the ball flies, CONTROL the length of your backswing. 

Practice your pitching wedge “around the clock.”  Twelve o’clock is your head, six o’clock your feet.  Practice your wedges with various “times” in mind as they relate to the length of your backswing. 

Swing your arms back and up to the eleven o’clock position.  See how far the ball flies.  Perhaps that distance will be 100 yards on what amounts to your full swing.

Then, once you know how far you hit a full pitching wedge, swing back only to the nine o’clock position.  How far does the ball fly now, 50 or 60 yards? 

Now practice from the seven o’clock backswing position.  How far does that fly? 

This is the way to develop a “feel” for what length of backswing you will need to carry your ball a certain distance with the same swing acceleration.

It requires a little work to develop this “feel” but any time you spend on controlling your wedge distance will be handsomely rewarded with lower golf scores.

The reason I recommend the clock drill and advocate controlling short shots by the length of the backswing, is that I see so many amateurs struggle with distance control on these types of shots. 

Far too many people take a huge backswing for a short shot and then make the terrible mistake of decelerating through impact. 

You ALWAYS need to have the club accelerating through impact on all shots, but with the delicate shots, it is of the utmost importance!

Controlling the length of your backswing means that you can still accelerate through the shot without fear of the ball flying too far.  If your backswing is too long, your subconscious knows it!

“Oops, this is too much backswing for such a short shot!”

When you hit a poor short shot that either doesn’t go anywhere or goes flying across the green it is most likely the result of too long a backswing for the distance required which results in a stroke that is actually slowing down when it reaches impact with the ball.

I’m telling you, you’re smarter than you think.  If your conscious mind slips up due to some improper movement in your swing or alignment, your subconscious mind WILL take over!

If you’re doing something wrong, you can bet that at least half of your brain knows it and will react accordingly.  Take the proper length backswing for the short shots and accelerate through impact.

Lobbing: When you have NO OTHER CHOICE, the lob shot will be your “last resort” selection.

Only lob your ball when you have no other option available!

The lob shot is the most dangerous greenside shot.  It requires you to carry the ball all the way to the hole in the air and stop the ball right there.

The margin of error in this type of shot is nearly zero.  Only use this shot if you absolutely have to.

A situation where you have no appreciable green between yourself and the hole over which you could roll the ball is the only time you should attempt this trickiest of shots.

Chances are own a lob wedge.  It has an excessive amount of loft to get the ball airborne quickly.

The way to hit a lob shot is to play the ball slightly forward of the center of your stance and take your normal swing.  Let the excessive loft of the clubface do the work for you.

Your ball will “pop” nearly straight up into the air and land softly with a minimum of roll.  Understand that the lob wedge is a single dimension club, much like your putter or driver. 

It’s only good for shots like the ones described above.  It’s a good idea to carry a lob wedge in your bag because there will certainly be times when you will need it.

Only use it however, when you absolutely have to.  Playing shots that COULD be played with a different club is foolish and GUARANTEED to cost you strokes.

Goofing around with your lob wedge is the same as playing with a loaded gun: dangerous and scary.

With some diligent practice, you might get lucky once in awhile, but like the loaded gun, the lob wedge has the very real potential of “going off” in your hand. 

Only carry a lob wedge if you can “trust” yourself to use it only when absolutely necessary.  If you’re the kind of person who will be tempted to use it “just to get your money’s worth,” don’t carry it.

You may go six or more rounds without ever needing to use your lob wedge and even then, you may only need to use it once in 18 holes of golf.  You know you, better than I do.  Carry one with caution.

So what I am telling you is that the safest route to the hole from around the green is always the one that keeps the ball lowest to the ground.

The more ground time you have, the higher your potential for success.  The more airtime you have, the higher the potential for failure.

If a wing falls off an airplane while it is taxiing down the runway before takeoff, no problem.  People just walk off and get on another plane.  Personally, I get on a bus at that point, but that’s just me.

However, if the wing falls off an airplane while it’s in the air, well, you get the picture.  They don’t call them “air disasters” for nothing.  Keep your ball close to the ground whenever possible and you'll score better.