There is no doubt that putting is the major part of your golf score. And none are so important as the ones you hit inside of ten feet. Those are the putts you expect to make.

The field has shrunk to a manageable size. You can see everything involved in the putt, including the only acceptable final destination of the ball. That hole in the bottom of the cup that the flagstick sits in.

You can see every blade of grass the ball will roll over, as well as the spike marks and other miscellaneous items that turn up in lines.

You can see the slope of the ground and deduce almost exactly how it will affect the roll of the ball as it curves its way along the grass.

You can see if the putt is uphill or downhill and make informed decisions as to how that might effect the speed of the putt. That, of course, also affects the break you can expect out of the slope.

You can see the perfectly round cup that is 4 ¼ inches in diameter and relatively close to the ball. And if you succeed you can see the ball go in that hole from the place you hit.

And to top it all off, you can create an actual visual reference to the line you need to hit the ball on. That takes all the guess work out of lining up.

Putting, with all of these advantages, is nothing but a simple target game. The reason you don't make more putts is because you are not playing it like one.

The fundamentals are different than the rest of golf, but simple to apply if you know how.