Making clean contact from Hard Pan and waste areas is difficult for everyone.  The first step towards success is understanding how our tendencies and desires can cause our body to move poorly and ruin the shot. 
The desire to get the ball up in the air is the leading cause for the body to hang back on your trail foot.  This will cause you to hit behind the ball with a scooping motion of the hands.  Put simply, the low point of the club’s arc is behind the ball.
Therefore, we must address our set up slightly to acknowledge this tendency.  After taking your normal address position, tilt your spine towards the target by loading into your lead leg a little more.  Try to keep the pressure loaded into that lead leg throughout the swing, but especially at impact.
To further ensure your success, try to visualize a low boring trajectory right at the flag.