Last month I was playing in a 2-day best ball tournament with my friend Eliot. As we warmed up on the range among some very talented players, I overheard one of them remark that before most rounds they “hit three balls on the range” and then go play. Obviously, a tournament round requires a bit more preparation, so the range was lined with players finding their swing for the day. Ultimately though, we all want to play well when we tee it up on the first hole, and there’s nothing worse than standing on the fourth tee and cracking the “Well, the first three holes was the warm-up” joke.

I’m not going to diagnose my chipping issues here, mainly because the diagnosis involves words that golfers don’t want in their mind. However, my shaky short game has also become the part of the game that excites me most about any upcoming round. It’s strange because as a kid I loved hitting driver far. Playing Maynard CC over and over and over again when I was young was a practice in how measuring how far I could hit the ball.