Getting Good Around the Green

Lately I’ve been going to the range about three times a week. I hit my bucket of balls, but what I really want to do is practice around the green.

This is a practice green where you’re allowed to chip, and I do it. One wedge, a putter, and one ball. Chip the ball, putt it out -- just like you do on the course. No do-overs with the chip, either. Not wanting to have to leave a ten-foot putt for an up and down gets me to focus.

How am I doing? I get up and down almost every time. I’m not trying to brag here, to tell you how great I am. I’m trying to tell you that if you practice something often enough, you learn and you get good at it.

All that putting I have been doing at home the past few months, and the chipping I do at the range, is paying off.

And there’s this -- chipping is the easiest stroke in the game, the easiest one to get good at. There is no reason not to be good at it. Just put in the practice. Getting a lesson won’t hurt, either. Chances are your chipping stroke could stand a little fixing.

If you practice regularly starting now, by springtime you can own the green. All you have to do is put in the work.

Let me say one thing to inspire you about getting good.

An amateur will practice until he (or she) learns to do it right. A professional practices until he can’t do it wrong. No one is stopping you from practicing that much, and if you do, it will pay off like you won’t believe.