Cutting back on duff

You will, in all likelihood, be familiar with this tale. You've pulled your drive a little and it's come to rest on the first cut. You are not overly aggrieved as it's sitting up nicely and you have a great line in to the pin. There is a fair way to go but you choose your iron decisively and confidently. You address the ball and hit a crisp shot that fizzes off into the afternoon air. At first it appears to be honing in on the flag like an Exocet missile, but then the sirens come calling. Perhaps it's your natural shot shape or maybe it is a gust of unexpected wind. Whatever the root cause it is luring your ball away from the pin, flirting dangerously with the fringe. You plead for a kind bounce or some ferocious bite on landing but your prayers are in vain as the ball skirts off into the rough.

You let it go. You missed the bunker and an up and down from there should be relatively straight forward, especially if you have a good lie. You arrive to see you ball glistening like a pearl on an emerald sea of grass. You eye up the break, pick your landing point and rehearse the shot. Then you proceed to come in a bit fat. Your butter soft hands cannot compensate and all the momentum of your delicate swing evaporates like a fart in the wind. Maybe the ball travels a few feet staying in the comfort of the rough, perhaps it reached the green but died on landing leaving a long, tricky putt or if you are really unlucky it plops in a nearby bunker. What had moments ago seemed like a birdie or par opportunity is now a fight to save bogey.

I've lived and breathed this nightmare but yesterday's chipping tip may well have resolved my woes. Practicing last night in my savaged back garden, off horrible lies, I was slicing the ball effortlessly off the surface. I hope that this will breed new confidence into my short game and improved scores on my card!