2 ways you can attack a short ball:
1) is with severe brush. finish low. must get brushing sound on contact. no pop. I use this on 'off days' when I'm hitting below par. easy to get the ball in and wide with this
2) 'rip it to the hip'. (named by the serve doctor) start high, contact at shoulder or above and finish low. finish must be low.
Jeff Salzenstein also just posted a vid on this and this is the method I use most.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDOBO...&feature=g-all
he also has a vid on the brush method but i couldn't find it.