The short game

If you want to lower your scores quickly, ignore the driver for a while and learn to get the ball up and down from around the green. Most amateurs spend about 60% of their strokes inside 100 yards — yet practice almost none of it.

The basic chip

A chip is a small shot that spends most of its life rolling like a putt:

• Narrow stance, ball back of center, weight favoring your lead foot.
• Hands slightly ahead of the ball; lean the shaft toward the target.
• Make a quiet, putting-like stroke — the loft of the club does the lifting.

Pitching and bunkers

• Pitch shots (higher, more carry) use a longer swing and more wrist hinge, with a sand or lob wedge. Same idea: accelerate smoothly through the ball.
• Greenside bunkers scare beginners, but the trick is simple: hit the sand about two inches behind the ball and keep swinging through. The sand throws the ball out — you never strike it directly.

Putt, chip or pitch? One decision rule

Around the green, beginners lose strokes by picking the hero shot. Use this order instead: putt if you can, chip if you can't putt, pitch only if you must. The putter through the fringe is boring and brilliant — its worst result is almost always better than a chip's worst result. Chip when grass or a slope blocks the roll. Save the high, floating pitch for when something — a bunker, thick rough — stands between you and the green.

Control distance with swing length, not force

Hitting a chip "softer" or "harder" by feel is a coin flip. Instead, keep the same smooth tempo and change the length of the swing:

• Hip to hip — the little chip that trickles on.
• Chest to chest — the standard pitch that carries a few metres more.
• Shoulder to shoulder — the full wedge.

Three swings, one club, one tempo. Spend one range session learning how far each goes, write it down, and you own three reliable distances.

Common errors and what they cause

Trying to lift the ball — leaning back and scooping adds the club's loft twice. Result: thin screamers across the green or fat chunks. Trust the loft; hit slightly down.

Decelerating in the bunker — the sand slows the club, so a timid swing leaves the ball in the sand. Commit to a full follow-through every time.

Too much wrist on chips — flicking hands make the strike random. Chips are a shoulder rock, like a long putt.

A practice game that transfers to the course

Take three balls and pick three different spots around a practice green — one easy, one medium, one nasty. Play each ball until it's in the hole, counting strokes. Par is six. This "up and down" game rehearses exactly the choices and pressure you'll meet on the course — far better practice than raking twenty balls to the same flag.