Mastering the Short Game
What Is the Short Game?
by Kay McMahon, LPGA Professionals Hall Of Fame, PGA Member
The fastest way to lower your scores!
Golf plays like two games in one: the long game and the short game. Yet both come down to the same two things — distance and direction. The long game is about strength and power. The short game is about accuracy and controlling distance. That's it. Which is why everyone, regardless of how far they hit it, can have a great short game.
The Three Scoring Shots
Chipping, pitching, and bunker play are the scoring tools and the best way to have fewer and shorter putts. Mastering these three shots will take strokes off your score fast — they account for roughly 60% to 70% of the average game.
Why Wedges Are Built the Way They Are
The first step is understanding how the clubs — the wedge — are designed to work for you.
Wedges are built with the handle (your hands) ahead of the clubface. Step into the ball and set the club down as designed right from the start. That design automatically keeps the leading edge flush to the ground at address, puts your hands slightly forward with the ball position slightly back—so you don't have to manufacture that position yourself.
Your setup follows from that design—this naturally put the weight slightly onto your front foot, exactly where it should be automatically. There's nothing more to add. Narrow your stance to stay centered; this is a small swing. Open your stance toward the target, the same way you'd open up to toss a ball a short distance underhand.
The "Y" That Controls Everything
Once the setup is right, technique is simply using the club the way it's designed — creating loft and controlling distance.
Your hands should lead the clubface throughout the swing. From your elbows — soft, not locked — down through the shaft, the shape should look like a lowercase "y." Hold that "y" through the motion: your back-hand wrist stays hinged, your front wrist stays flat.
That shape does three things for you:
It keeps the clubface at its built-in loft, neither increasing (flipping) nor decreasing the loft angle — this is what controls distance.
It keeps the face square to the target line — this is what controls direction.
It keeps the leading edge flush to the ground, so the ball strikes the grooves and produces the backspin and trajectory you're after.
Four Swing Lengths, a Dozen-plus Shots
Think of your swing length as the hands of a clock, and develop three or four lengths to control distance and landing spot:
5 to 7 (thigh to thigh)
4 to 8 (hip to hip)
3 to 9 (waist to waist)
2 to 10 (shoulder to shoulder)
Three or four wedges with these four swing lengths and 12 to 16 distinct shots can be produced — enough to handle almost anything the course throws at you.
Building the Shot: What Else to Factor In
Technique and swing length give you the shot-making system. What you do with it depends on the situation in front of you: ball position and clubface angle at setup, the lie — flat, uphill, downhill, sidehill — green speed, your landing spot and carry distance, how much roll you want after it lands, club selection, trajectory, and how much spin you're putting on the ball versus letting it run out. Taking all those factors in creates having a plan.
It sounds like a lot, but it comes down to three steps:
Develop the technique — use the club the way it's designed.
Have a plan — read the situation and pick your shot.
Execute — commit and hit it.
Master chipping, pitching, and bunker play with a formula, and "short game" stops being a weakness and starts being where you make up strokes. It might be the shortest part of the swing — but as you can see, there's a lot packed into it. Have fun with the creativity.
More information to come in follow up series on the Short Game or watch on YouTube Videos, or participate in upcoming Short Game Workshop.