Illustration by Jim McQueen

Getting close on severely sloped greens frequently calls for hitting away from the flagstick and letting gravity feed the ball down to the hole.

A perfect example is the par-3 16th at Augusta National on Masters Sunday. With the super-fast green canted from right to left and the pin cut back-left, the only way to get within one-putt range--or even be sure of two-putting--is to hit well to the right and let the ball ride the slope. Because the target in such cases is general rather than precise, aiming and aligning correctly becomes more of a challenge.

My solution to that is to "see" the area where I want the ball to land as half of a funnel, then visualize how it will gather the ball and direct its roll.

Next Week's topic: Handle Doglegs with Your Head