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What is the nipper?
I call this short pitch ‘the nipper’ because you nip the ball from the grass with a clean, firm, downward blow. You don’t take much of a divot, if any.
The shot flies with a lower trajectory, takes one hop, then skids to a stop.
It helps to use a soft-cover, high-spin ball.

Big tee shots and long birdie putts are popular with the fans, but I get more questions from my pro-am partners about my nipper than any other shot.
The nipper looks like a tour player’s shot. It stays low, takes one hop and stops. I use it anywhere from 20 to 40 yards off the green. With some practice, you can use it, too. Here’s what you have to work on.
First, play the ball slightly back in your stance. Staying very stable over your legs, turn your shoulders until your arms get to waist height. Keep your left wrist firm and hit the ball first, with a fairly aggressive, descending blow. You’re turning sand-wedge loft into 9-iron loft, which makes the shot fly low and spin a lot.
The biggest mistakes average players make are using too much hand action to try to create spin and taking a big divot in an effort to hit down on the ball. Hit the ball first and you’ll create plenty of spin. I might take a little bit of grass – after I hit the ball – but nothing like the divot I would take on a full wedge swing.

Managing a hectic travel schedule
Most of the players in the top-50 are world travellers to a degree. That’s the way this business works. I want to support professional golf around the world, and it’s important to me to spend time at home in South Africa and in England, so I probably move around more than most players.

My schedule for April and May was pretty standard – very busy. I played in the Masters and at Hilton Head, came back to London, where my daughter started school, went to Texas for a week to play in Byron Nelson’s event, then flew to Germany for the Deutsche Bank SAP tournament. The Volvo PGA was a home game at Wentworth, then I went back to the States for the Memorial, Westchester and the US Open. It doesn’t matter if you’re on your own jet or a commercial flight. A long plane trip is hard on you – and on your game. I had to learn a long time ago how to deal with the cramped conditions and dehydration. To recover from a long flight, the first thing I do when I get off the plane is take a walk, go for a swim or get to the gym. I like to get that feeling in my legs again. I also drink a lot of fluids. And, no, beer doesn’t qualify.