…Well, there are some options here:

-The Putt.  We all know you drive for show, but putt for dough.  Dave Pelz says that the 50-50 line for a putt is somewhere around six feet out.  And even a three-footer isn’t automatic.  So, if a putt is longer than three feet, success looks like leaving it inside a 3-foot radius circle.  Hmmmn.  

But, there’s the drive:

-In a moment of rare clarity I muttered something once that “It’s hard to scream with the Eagles and chirp with the Birdies when you’re in the woods scratching with the squirrels looking for your tee ball.”   I think I was taking stock of Chigger bites after attempting to find Robin Hood, err…tee balls all day. 

-Of course, there’s the approach.  But, it turns out the pros miss a third of those on average.  Nonetheless, it’s hard to make Birdie putts from the bunker.

-It can’t be a sand shot…how many of those can one have in a round?  Ok, how many SHOULD one have in a round.  More than four? 

-Which leads to my candidate: The Chip.

I had a good round the other day on a tough tract in the rain and the wind and on purely saturated ground.  Greens were still fast, though.  Hit only 5 greens and shot an 80.  Six out of eight chips were gimmes.  27 putts.  It literally made the round.  75% is the number I see for Tour Pros on those shots.  I’m not sure I’ve ever had 75% success on chips before…but, I could get used to it in a hurry. 

In fact, I’ve been a dreadful chipper of the ball for years.  So much so that I talked Chuck into using me for the guinea pig at the Williamsburg Clinic.  It’s slowly gotten better.  But, last Saturday was the breakthrough…or at least a welcomed spike in performance. 

The approach was simple: “See the shot, make sure to turn.  (as opposed to wristing it)”  I wouldn’t chip it until I ‘saw’ it.  The two I missed were because the ball reacted differently than I thought it would, but the ball and flight were right where I wanted them.  That’s golf.  I made notes in case I run into those shots again. 

One of Chuck’s videos talks about a “no-brainer chip.”  I never had one of those until last Saturday.  Literally “No-brain.”  See it, Chip it…score.  Just like putting.