on your pitch shots you have too much lower body drive, we want the big muscles of the chest to control the movement, watch Toms' pitching motion in this video and notice how his chest controls the downswing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aa9DaEgy1G8

the best wedge players have quiet lower body actions, it allows them to better control distance.

Also, in the face on longer pitch the weight starts neutral, then actually shifts to your front foot in the backswing before you fall back in your downswing. Let's set up with a little more weight on your left leg at address, and do our best to keep the weight there throughout the movement.

thx guys for comments

especially Spenda gonna try to quiet my lower body
thx for the link

PS. I should stop playing basketball... another finger injury

i was going to mention the same thing as spenda about your lower body on chips... also on chips your ball position looks too far forward. like in the video spenda posted, see how david toms keeps his feet close together and ball position on his back foot. another thing on chipping... i cant really tell from the video, but i like to keep most of my weight on my front foot. something like 70/30.

Was going to post same thing about your chipping. Here's how I learned it from my pro: Open up your stance a bit and play the ball just insider your back foot. Put almost all of your weight on your front foot, with your hands way ahead of the ball. Do not shift your weight much in the swing, its all shoulders. Also try not to accelerate a ton coming through the ball, swing with a good tempo and keep your hands "soft."

This is exactly what my coach showed me.
But then I watched Mickelson’s ‘Short Game DVD’ where he tells that ball placement and your weight shift depend on what kind of a shot you trying to hit.
For now, I’m just learning basic shot, so according to him: ball inside your front foot and weight neutral.
But what Spenda mentioned, on a longer shots I found it easier to hit with my weight on front foot.

What’s your opinion on that (ball placement and weight shift)?

a friend of mine's game improved dramatically when he went to much more weight on front foot for chipping and pitching. his teaching pro had him start with feel of 90%+ weight on front foot. and then it'll probably adjust over time. and of course, if you have never done it before, 70% on front foot probably feels like 90%+.............. could even somewhat extend this to shorter irons where i've been having some problems recently (obviously less weight on front leg as club gets longer)

if i can ask the experts, don't a bunch of short game teachers and great wedge players advocate controlling your wedges (even chips) with the speed/size of your hip pivot

LFC - nice to see some short game videos on the forum! Here's my thoughts on the videos - some good info on here so far, so I'll just add my $.02

Putting - stroke overall looks good - I would like to see your eyes over or inside the ball (DTL) not outside them - hold a club from the bridge of your nose & let it hang - that will show you where your eyes are in relation to the ball - or take an old CD and turn it upside down - place the ball in the center (hole) of the cd - it becomes a mirror - move until your eyes are over the ball & visible on the cd.

Your pitching and chipping are both pretty good - I would echo the above posts about getting weight on the front foot. I like players to strive for 100% on the front heel - you can practice by hitting shots off one foot (pull your right foot back and use the toe for balance only). And, "Yes" to the question above - I prefer to use the pivot as the primary distance producer - I have never thought about how far back I take the club (I'm not a big 9:00, 10:00 fan) - focus on pivoting through the ball with some crisp acceleration and the harder I pivot, the further it goes.

One thing I'd like to see you improve on your chipping & pitching is maintaining the angle between your right forearm and the club (lag, shaft lean). It straightens pretty quickly and that can lead to a lot of missed shots and if you can't maintain it on a chip shot, you certainly won't be able to hold that angle on a full-swing. You mentioned you watched Phil's video - he's a big believer in "Hinge & Hold" - that is the "hold" he's referring to - keeping the angle intact and hitting the ball with some lag. There's some good drills you can do to help maintain some angle, & I'm pretty sure I've mentioned a few in one of my threads, but to start, extending the shaft - hold a club, reflective stick, or shaft with your wedge, so it extends up your left side, next to your rib cage - make short swings trying to move the extended shaft away from your body. If you release the club early (or flip it) the extension will hit you in the side - once you can make several swings without hitting your side, try hitting some balls while holding the extension. Don't go very long, just try & hold the angle that you established in the backswing, and use body rotation to deliver the club to the ball. I prefer that players feel like they are trying to put the butt of the club in their back left pocket (for a RH player) - this helps hold the angle and forces them to rotate as opposed to the body stopping and the hands/arms lifting the club vertically.

Give it a try & if you have any questions, or need more drills, don't hesitate to ask!

Thx dagolfdoc!
Couple Q’s about pitching (chipping):
-stance- square or open ?
-ball position- inside rear foot ?

Just got back from DR. Spent about 4 hours around putting green (my back doesn’t appreciate it).
Main thought:
-with that new setup (weight on front foot and ball little back (inside of back foot)) and holding the angel, I feel like the ball pops up much quicker and after few bounces it rolls much further than before. I’m not sure if that’s how it supposed to do.
Earlier, I could predict where the ball going to stop (few feet after bounces) and now it rolls, rolls and rolls.
I think that the trajectory is more or less the same, so is it because of the spin?

At the beginning I couldn’t hit a short shot. I had to shorten my backswing a lot to do so.
But now it is much easier on longer shots. It costs me much less energy now.

Long putts (45 feet) gonna kill me someday. I couldn’t do more than 9 in a row.
One question about putting:
Would you suggest me to straighten my legs a little bit? I feel much comfortable with my knees bent. Is it important in putting to have them more straight or is it individual?

Can’t wait for tomorrow and another short game grind

Oh, and I found that quite close to me there is a 6hole par18 golf course.

It’s 6$ per round or 12$ per whole day Instant call right?

For sure snap call that. 12 for all day, I'm guessing that its close to that for a large bucket.

With Doc's Ulitmate Practice routine and this par 3 course you can break 90 in no time. When on a "big" course, turn all the holes into 150 yard par 3's. Hit what you need to get to 150 off the tee and your all set. Good luck man.

i'm no golfdoc and i'm sure he'll give a much better explanation/answer then me but with that set-up you should be able to generate a good amount of spin if your impact position is correct so imo no you shouldn't be getting a ton of rollout

LFC, what's your best number so far?

that 101 few weeks ago

it's June already and I played only 2 rounds of golf this year... I suck

and twisted my ankle (the same ankle) again today while playing basketball. Luckily it doesn't look that bad as last time

u need to be more on the course as well, not only training.
U need on course routine so you be more relaxed in tournaments etc.
I never had that aswell, since i played "Man´s Afternoon" aka Herrennachmittag every Wednesday, which is handicap relevant.
So im not as much afraid of Tournaments anymore.