Short Game Swing vs Long Game Swing (The Huge Difference)

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Many students come to see me, struggling with their driver and short clubs. A big reason for this is what I call "short game mechanics" creeping into their long game swing. Conversely, long game mechanics often hinder their short game. There are significant differences between these two swings, and understanding them can help you develop more power in your long game and better control in your short game.

If you're new to my channel and this is your first lesson, please consider subscribing. I release videos every week to help you improve your game. Plus, I always include a free download practice guide in the description box below, so you don't have to remember everything. By the end of this session, I want to help you gain control of your short approach shots and add more power and precision to your irons and driver. Appreciating the differences in the swings will really help.

Let's dive into it. When you want to add control, what do you need to do with the golf ball? If I hit below the equator of the golf ball, it pops up in the air and doesn't go very far. This is ideal for short shots, where you want backspin and height. However, hitting above the equator makes the ball fly off with more speed and distance. To achieve these outcomes, you need two different swings.

For short shots, impact happens in front of the body. When I strike the golf ball, the club impacts with the knees and hips fairly square to the ball. In contrast, with the long game, we want to add more metal behind the ball, resulting in impact happening more on the trail side of the body.

Here's how to develop these swings. For short shots, think of an underarm throw. Imagine a fish's tail with your trail wrist – there's a slight hinge that releases naturally. This action helps you hit below the equator of the golf ball. Notice how my body waits for the club to come down, adding loft and allowing for a calm, controlled motion.

Many golfers mistakenly apply full swing mechanics to their short game, driving their legs and opening their hips too much. Short game mechanics should be quieter, with the body staying still and waiting for the club.

Once you've mastered this calm motion, you can start adding full swing mechanics. Begin with a wedge, playing what I call "flighted wedges" or lower wedges. The key difference is now you want to strike above the equator of the golf ball, almost cutting the ball into the ground. This creates more compression and a faster ball speed, but still with that fish's tail motion.

Practice throwing the ball down towards the ground, mimicking the compression needed for long shots. When swinging, start with a slight lean of the shaft, imagining you're skimming a stone. Notice how your body moves forward, with hips opening to allow for that powerful, compressed strike.

Next, apply these principles to a 7-iron. Feel the short game mechanics first, stabilizing your body and striking the ball in front of your chest. Then, transition to long game mechanics, where the club waits for the body. As you swing back, the body moves first, followed by the club, generating more power.

Finally, for the driver, remember the pattern: in the short game, the body waits for the club; in the long game, the body leads and the club follows. This understanding is crucial for generating power. Swing the club back, move your body towards the golf ball, and let the club follow for a powerful, controlled shot.

If you're looking to generate even more power, check out my video on how the trail arm works in the golf swing – it's a game-changer. If you enjoyed this video, give it a thumbs up, and if you're new to the channel, please subscribe. Have a wonderful golfing week!

Full Transcript- so I just had to share this video with you today because there's a huge misunderstanding out there in the world of golf many students are coming to see me and they're struggling with a driver and they're struggling with their short clubs and part of the reason for that is is I'm seeing them struggling with distance with the driver because they've got what I call short game mechanics a short game swing in their long game and when it comes to the short game they're struggling to strike it because they they've got too much of their long game mechanics in their short game there's a huge difference between the two swings I'm going to share with you very simply what it is and how you can start to develop very very naturally a lot more power in your long game and a lot more control in your short game now before I get into the video look if you're new to the channel your first lessons of mine please consider subscribing release videos like this every single week to try and help you improve your game plus you never have to remember a thing I'll always put a free download practice guide in the description box below so by the end of this session I want to help you get control of those short approach shs towards the green and I want to add more power and strike into your irons and your driver and appreciating the differences in the swings will really really help so let's show you what I mean so when you want to add control what need youan to do with this golf ball well if I take the ball like this whoops take the ball like this if I hit below the equator of this golf ball which is kind of the idea of the short shots that ball is going to pop up in the air and it's not going to go very far right that's the idea it's going to go with some Back Spin is going to go quite high if I hit above the equator that Ball's going to C off with a lot more ball SP speed is going to go a lot further to achieve those kind of uh outcomes you need two different swings so with your short shots impact with a golf ball happens in front of the body like this so when I'm striking this golf ball I'm delivering the club impact happens right here with the knees hips fairly Square onto the golf ball with the long game it's different completely different we want to add more metal behind the golf ball so as you add more metal it becomes more shaing as it becomes more shling it becomes more of the right side the trail side delivering the blow what did you notice now the body is in a completely different place impact is happening look more on towards the trail side of the body the side of the body than it is with a short game which happening right in front of the body yeah so let's show you how you could start to develop that now so the first thing I want you to do is simply adj just appreciate the Simplicity of what is a short shot it's like an underarm throw like this okay so if I'm throwing this ball all I'm doing look is throwing it under arm you could almost look imagine it's almost like a fish's tail with the trail wrist it's got a slight hinge to it here and then naturally look releases to almost throw like this so I'm almost catching raindrops on the way through this is the action here that we're wanting this club to do right so I'll show you this in motion what this does is creates a weak shot that generally goes beautifully up in the air helps to strike just below the qu to that golf

ball now what do you notice about my action as I'm doing this notice here I've got the fishy's tail but notice how my body is almost waiting for the club to come down first and then it wants to pick it up on the way through so when I'm swinging here the club's coming down and my body's waiting for that shot right waiting for the club to drop this is what's adding Loft and it's helping me hit below the equator of the golf ball it's a much much Cala motion now for some of you that is going to feel for your pitching is going to feel a bit alien why because a lot of you probably what's happening is you're in essentially you've got full swing mechanics where you're driving your legs here your hands are working your hips are starting to open up here there's too much going on here whereas short game is quiet the body's still it waits for the head to deliver the blur and then look joins the the club on the way through now once you've got that down that sensation here there's no rushing it's a real calm motion what you then do is you can s say well how do you then start adding kind of some full swing mechanics into this and I would start before you move on to 79 and your driver I'd actually start just with a wedge I'm almost playing what I call flighted wedges lower wedges now the difference is look when you're playing the the higher ones you've almost got this underarm throw when we want to kind of say get more compression get that ball coming off faster what we're going to do is we still got the fish's tail here but now when I strike the ball look I'm basically get the fish and I'm slapping it on top of that ball there I'm trying to strike above the equator that golf ball almost cutting the ball into the ground that's going to get more metal that's going to get the ball coming off much faster and a much much better strike but I'm not going like this to do this I've still got this beautiful kind of flowing fishy tail here the difference is it's coming and attacking on top of the golf ball look rather than level or even underneath it yeah so good exercise here we've just thrown underarm what we do now is is Imagine The Fish's tail here I'm going to throw the ball down towards the ground and this time I'm going to R throw it up in the air I'm going to throw it down this is going to help me look get that sensation of throwing the club with compression while still simultaneously be getting that beautiful release so get power and control so let's see what this looks like so start off with your wedges you get yourself set here now the first thing I naturally do I want to strike more towards the top of the ball so I'm going to have a slightly more lean of the shaft as I'm doing this now I'm imagining look now I'm throwing the ball like almost like skimming a stone now as you skim a stone what do you notice about my body it moves forward the hips even start to open in order for me to look throw that ball down versus look at the difference here that's short game this is long game yeah but I'm still look throwing that club on the way through so this is going to give me slightly more compression but I'm still getting that sense of fishy tail but now I'm throwing it more on top and that gives me that beautiful compressed strike so let's see how we can apply some of this now to light your seven iron and then more importantly how you can start to add more distance to your driver so one thing my students absolutely love is kind of appreciating the difference in the pattern so when I move to a 79 like this the first thing I get them to do is to feel short game mechanics with their 79 so I get them look to stabilize their body here I get them to strike the ball in in front of their chest like this we're adding Loft to this we're striking the ball look below the equator we're probably going to have a bit more wrists through the shot you can hear there I've almost clipped that ball off the surface there I've hit underneath that golf ball there's no compression at all it's a weak shot great get that sensation really spend some time on the Range kind of feeling that why cuz your body absolutely loves to feel the difference between maybe what's right and wrong but remember it's only wrong for Force mechanics it works for your shot game so get that sensation this pattern of the body waiting and allowing the club to come in because it now needs to feel the opposite so when when you're swinging now what I want you to do is this when you swing and the fish's tail moves back like this here now suddenly here the club is waiting for the body you see a difference short game the body waits for the club long game as I swing back here the club waits for the body and moves and the club is following behind the body before it finally look the fish or fish's tail just slams down on that golf ball and goes through okay so lovely lovely image my students absolutely love this is the the stable body this is shot game this is long game okay really start to get that lovely

sensation that's a beautiful strike so what I'd love you to do is spend a little bit of time you know not trying to create this kind of compression to start with spend some time we'll go to drive in a second but spend some time really feeling this type of release Here the short game release even with like a s iron and then gradually there's your fish's tail just imagine is throwing underarm and then basically throwing that ball down on the ground to give yourself a different intention is one's under one's firing down this is going to get that whole right side moving into the golf ball look and automatically creates ball speed for you just almost free of charge so you get that sensation I mix between the two here's the short gear mechanics here clipped off the surface high up in the air yeah gradually I'd try and even try and control that if I could and then move to more compression back down turning that right side beautifully look on that golf ball right let's move to driver so as we move to the longer Golf Club certainly my students absolutely love they love the fish's tail they love this kind of sensation of this kind of beautiful release it keeps it flowing but the one thing they've they've really appreciated me adding is the pattern remember short game the body waits for the club to come down in the long game it's the opposite the club waits for the body to move yeah so when they're swinging now they swing the club back and look they're moving the body back towards the golf but just as you would do look if you are skimming a stone or throwing a ball down towards the ground the body's leading and followed finally by the club this is what then really generates that power on the way through so that image is just beautiful yeah so get yourself set here going to wind this back up here up and rip it through just like that so really appreciate the big difference between the short swing and the long swing short game your body weights allows the club to come in long game the body is going through while the club is waiting yeah very very different very different Power movements okay so understanding the two is hugely hugely important now you're probably going to be asking how do I generate more power so once I've got this how do I kind of look after this place well I've got a video that tells you exactly how the trail arm works in the go swing it's an absolute Game Changer it will complement this one really really well I'll put that right here if you enjoy the video give it a thumbs up and of course look if you're new to the channel come and press that subscribe button and the bell is completely free I'd love to see you next week but until next week have a wonderful golfing week.