Jason Day’s short game has long been one of his strengths. He is quite unique in that his wrists lack hinges and we often hear about his “dead hand”.
PGA Professional Barney Puttick explains how he does it and how we can learn from the major champion.
Understand the collapse blade
The whole process of chipping, which I’ve been promoting for a long time, is to look at it in terms of low trajectory and high trajectory, and he hit a lot of the ball using what I call low trajectory techniques.
If you ask your average amateur, do you prefer hitting an 8-iron or a 9-iron from the front of the green? 90% of people will be very confident in that shot. It’s just that when they encounter something, they don’t really like it.
I always say to them, you do get your chance, it’s right in front of you. All you have to do is apply the same technique to a more lofted club, like you just split an atom.
So I would put a loft wedge in their hands and tell them to hit it repeatedly. Now obviously you’re not going to get super height, but the club has a lot of built-in loft, and I think that’s what they suddenly liked.
Imagine this
It’s like an underarm throw, basically your hands and forearms are in sync. That’s why he looks so simple when you watch him do it. But so does the underarm throw.
If you want to change the height of your underarm throw, you don’t need extra wrist movement, if you want to throw it higher, you just release it further in the throwing arc.
position
I like to keep my feet and hips slightly open because it gives your hips a head start.
It’s all about impact, and in smaller movements you don’t have the motivation to establish an open hip position. So if you’ve got them slightly open, like the hand position is where the ball comes off the back foot, the hands are going to take the right position and lean forward a little bit.
takeout
I always tell people, just use your left shoulder to move the club away. John Daly practices with his club left-handed only, and I’m a big fan of this. So take a few one-handed swings before hitting the ball to almost stabilize the feel, and then try to maintain that same feel.
Whether you feel like it might be more left side or the forearm is dominant and then the trailing arm will follow, this is a very useful exercise.
lens
It’s a very simple thing, Jason stands a little bit wider, shifts his weight forward, pops off his right toes, hands obviously a little bit closer to the center of his body, and then straight back, straight through, no stiffness in the wrist, but very little hand movement.
The key is to make sure the backswing and straight swing are the same distance because what I often see is a long backswing and then it just fades away.
stop spoon
This is always a big mistake. Start on the back foot and keep hitting the ball and you’ll get what I call a mid-trajectory shot.
Then you can actually move forward with your position.
Obviously, the hands will be more horizontal now, but you’ve pretty much taught the hands and body what to do.
So you’ve eliminated the flip because with this approach you’re very subtly starting to engage your body more, which is key to hitting the ball correctly, getting the low point right.
We almost froze a little bit as everyone stood there, we were standing so square and just scooping it with our hands instead of letting our bodies flow onto it.
generalize
As the weight moves forward, your body will become more natural just by standing a little more open. I think it’s only when people freeze that things become ball-oriented and things get tricky.
A psychologist I worked with once had people hit air balls, tennis balls, and racquetballs just to change the difference in how the clubface felt. We all know the impact and feel of any good shot, and this is another great drill.
About Barney Puttick
Barney turned professional in 1979 and worked under Ian Connelly, best known as Sir Nick Faldo’s original coach.
He once tied with Greg Norman for third in the 36-hole championship in Cannes, behind Corey Pavin.
He has been with Mid Herts GC since 2000 and is a Golf Monthly Top 50 instructor.
