Geoff Ogilvy's wire to wire win at Kapalua was in large part to his mastery of the short game. (Photo: Getty Images)

Jan. 12, 2008 -- Geoff Ogilvy was certainly impressive in his six-shot win at the Mercedes-Benz Championship in Hawaii. All week he drove the ball long and straight, hit his irons like lasers at the flagstick and made his share of birdie putts. He was on his game from day one. It was no surprise he played well this week. He just came off of three top ten finishes down under including a win. Golf is a streaky game by nature. All players, including tour players, play well in streaks. Look at Vijay Singh and Camilo Villegas at the end of last year or Kenny Perry last summer. They all won tournaments and had high finishes in streaks.

When a player has it going like Geoff does right now, everyone tends to notice how well he is striking the ball -- and Geoff is hitting it very well. But what really jumped out at me about Ogilvy's game this week was his wedge game. Nick Faldo even mentioned it a couple of times during the telecast. In fact his scrambling percentage was 100% for the first three rounds! That is pretty amazing for three rounds of golf. The ability to get the ball up and down is what keeps a round together. It turns bogeys into pars when you miss a green and pars into birdies when you are close to a par 5 green in two. It is the glue that holds it all together.

80% of the short game is the basic pitch shot. The basic pitch is the shot you should use almost every time you pitch the ball around the green. It is a medium height shot with just a little spin and rolls out a little. It's your "go-to" shot for getting the ball up and down.

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Pitching the ball well is a lot less about technique than you might think. I see good players use and good teachers teach all different kinds of pitching strokes. Some have the ball back in the stance, others have it in the middle. Some set their wrist early, others don't set their wrist at all. Some set up square to the ball, others have an open stance. The one thing all good wedge do is they strike the ground in front of the ball. We call it a forward swing bottom. It is a fundamental in all shot in golf but it is really important in being a good wedge player. Most amateurs have the misconception that the bottom of the swing should be under the ball. In doing research for his book, Impact Zone, Bobby Clampett found that the bottom of the swing should be four inches in front of the ball and that there was a direct correlation between where the bottom of the swing is and a player's handicap. The further forward of the ball the lower the handicap and the further back or even behind the ball the higher the handicap. There are some things you should do in your wedge swing (and your full swing) to help you produce a forward swing bottom but first of all and maybe most importantly is just understanding that you should have a forward of the ball swing bottom.

I want you to use your most lofted wedge (mine is 58 degrees) for all of your wedge shots. I tell my students all of the time "loft is your friend". More loft encourages you to have a more forward swing bottom because you don't feel you have to help the ball into the air. You can learn to hit high, medium and low pitches by moving your swing bottom further forward of the ball for lower shots with more spin and closer to the ball for higher shots that land softer.

Take a bucket of ball out to the range (short game area if you have one) and just your most lofted wedge. Work on some medium length pitch shots and pay attention to where you swing bottom is. Try to move it forward and watch the ball go lower. Move it back and see the ball go higher. Learn you use your practice swings to rehearse where you swing bottoms out by paying attention to where you brush the grass. You see good players take the most practice swings for pitch shots than any other shots in golf. It is because they are trying to feel how hard they will hit the shot but also how and where they will impact the ground.

A great drill for working on you swing bottom is the bunker drill. This one also comes from Bobby Clampett and the Impact Zone. Take your wedge to the practice bunker, no balls needed for this one. Smooth out a small area in a flat part of the bunker and draw a straight line about a yard or so long. Now address the line as if it were the ball and make a pitching swing taking a divot of sand. If you have a forward swing bottom you will enter the sand just in front of the line and take a divot for a few inches. If you don't have a forward swing bottom you will hit behind the line and wipe the line out.

I tell my students to divide their practice time in half for full swing and half for short game and half of that short game time should be spent on wedge shots. A wedge game is a must for shooting good scores. Work on your wedge game, work on a forward swing bottom and ask for help from you PGA Professional if you need it.

Good luck and hope you have a great 2009.

John Crumbley is a Certified PGA Professional and the PGA Director of Golf at Mystery Valley Golf Club in Lithonia, Ga. John is a two-time winner of the Growth of the Game Award from the Georgia PGA Section and has served as the Rules expert for PGA.com's "Ask the PGA Experts," as well as on the PGA.com Editorial Advisory Board.