It's going to be a great year!

As of this writing, we’re less than two weeks from April which starts the four-month stretch of major tournaments:

• The Masters Tournament, April 10-13 at Augusta National

• The PGA Championship, May 15-18 at Quail Hollow

• The US Open, June 12-15 at Oakmont

• The Open Championship, July 17-2 at Royal Portrush

The four major tournaments are the most sought after and historically significant titles in golf.  They’re also the only chances that golf fans have to watch the best players in the world playing against each other, no matter the tour on which they play.

When the majors are done, the PGA playoffs take place and we can watch obscene amounts of cash flood down on the winners of the season long FedEx Cup.

But in September, pure competition returns with the Ryder Cup. Teams from the US and Europe/UK duke it out in match play formats that are fun to watch. That’s September 26-28 at Bethpage Page Black, a fully public golf course near New York City.

It’s going to be a great summer of golf on TV and at the courses where we play!

And to help us prepare our own games, this edition of Finding the Tips is devoted to the short game, an area of play that everyone wants to improve.

In this issue

• Sand trap and short game primer

• Short game recipes

• Who’s gonna argue with Mr. One Putt?

• This week’s playlist

Sand trap and short game primer

As we head into a new golf season in the coming weeks, it’s a good time to remember some greenside bunker fundamentals, with bonus looks at the flop shot and standard chipping stroke.

Your Simple Golf Swing channel does exactly that, exploring sand shots by starting with setup and grip and then going into the shot itself. Greenside bunker shots require an open face. The bounce of the club makes contact with the sand one to two inches behind the ball. The key to that is zipping the open clubface under the ball with some speed.

The video also gives you great instruction on how to hit a flop shot over a bunker and recommends a fundamentally sound chipping stroke.

Short game recipes

In this video, Dan Rapaport of the Skratch golf YouTube channel goes to Parker McLachlin – aka the Short Game Chef -- for a short game lesson. He shows us all how to hit the Augusta Chip, and something he dubs the Duff Spinner.

The Short Game Chef teaches a wide swing back and through, with very little wrist set for a standard chip shot. This helps us deliver the bounce to the turf under the ball, rather than the leading edge to the ball.

He shows us how to hit the ball higher by moving the handle slightly forward and opening the clubface.

For especially high shots, like the flop shot, he wants us to open the clubface wide. This shot contacts the ground (with the bounce of the wedge) and then the ball. It requires practice to control distance, but it delivers a lot of height and a lot of spin. And this is what he calls the Duff Spinner.

He also offers help with greenside bunker shots, including fried egg and buried lies.

As you watch this short game video, and any golf instruction video, listen and watch for teaching that speaks to YOU. Take what works for you and apply it to your game.

Who’s gonna argue with Mr. One Putt?

Putting is a very personal part of the golf game. Great putters use different grips. Some use short putters, others use long. Stances can be open or closed.

But one thing I know is that putting better means lower scores.

Mr. One Putt tells us that the tour average number of putts per round is about 29. At the same time, the average number of putts for us amateurs is 40.

In this video, he shows us how to practice for improvement that will transfer to the golf course. He also shows us how to set up properly, how to correct alignment and how to manage the speed of our putts.

This week’s playlist

Each week I review dozens of YouTube videos from the best coaches in the world. The ones that catch my eye are placed in a playlist. You can view all of this week’s picks and decide if I chose the best ones.

Watch your inbox on Friday, March 28 for the next edition of Finding the Tips.