How to improve when the chips are down

This game is creepy in the way it takes sadistic delight in telling you exactly just where your game is (or isn’t!). Those demons and self doubts start jumping up and down in your head as soon as you’re faced with a shot or situation that you’re uncomfortable with.

Let’s take a simple chip that we’ve practiced untold times. When on the chipping green, it’s all rather easy — chip after chip snuggle up close to the hole — you’re so good it becomes boring. Then, on the first hole where you’re faced with the exact same shot, what happens? Your hands become sweaty and you start thinking of all the things that could go wrong. There’s really no quick fix here, and it’s precisely here that all those hours of chipping practice come in handy.

Step by step try and think clearly — first by selecting the correct club. There’re several ways of skinning a cat — so it could be a simple six or seven iron chip and run, skip and stop wedge or even a putt from off the green if the fringe grass is reasonably smooth and short. Once you have selected

the right club for the job, next you have to visualise the shot you wish to hit. Then go through the routine that you’ve done thousands of times.

Out of Bounds: There has been great feedback from my last couple of tips that suggested that there’s too much money now on offer for our favourite players. ‘Where’s the desire for those who already have 20 million+ in their bank accounts?’ was the by far the most popular comment. The other was that it must be very early in the morning when many of the players decide what to wear!