Johannes Veerman

The winner of December's Nedbank Golf Challenge shares his thoughts on some of the best ways to lower your scores

- By Mark Townsend

1 PUTTING

One of the things I see with amateurs is that a lot of amateurs can't start their putts online. Find a straight 6ft putt and put two tees 2ft in front of you. Start by making sure the two ball-widths apart and just try to roll it between the tees over and over. Then adjust your sight to where you can look at the hole and those tees. You then know that's where you need to roll it through. The better you are, the narrower the gate should be.

2 THE HANDS IN CHIPPING

Many players use their hands too much when chipping. Everyone talks about someone having good hands, but a lot of the best chippers don't use their hands at all. What it is, is very rhythmic motion to keep the triangle between your shoulders and arms together.

Many amateurs drag the club back on the inside with their hands, which leads to timing issues. If you can keep it a little wider on the way back and get the grip end of the club pointing at your left rib cage the entire time, that will lead to far more consistent strikes.

3 THE MUST-MAKE PUTT