A great deal of practice is required to learn how to hit the ball a given distance with a given degree of loft. The short swing lends itself to chipping, that is shots of around 5 yards, using a highly lofted iron or sand wedge. These shots are typically used to overcome hazards such as bunkers or rough. The loft of the club is the main influence on how high the ball rises and consequently how far it rolls. Note that when using irons for this shot, the grip differs from the norm in that the hands move down the grip as far as the shaft.
Wedges are shorter than irons and therefore no change of grip is required.
The main aspects of the short swing are that the shoulders do the work rather than any coiling motion of the torso. The hands and arms always remain in the same relative position to take a short swing, assume a relatively narrow stance around a centrally positioned ball. The backswing is a simple rotation of the shoulders which brings the clubhead to the 8 o' clock position. The downswing simply brings the clubhead to the ball. The follow-through, to the 4 o'clock position, pushes the ball along the target line.