Too many of us are guilty of missing the math in the fact that a wasted chip or putt is actually worse than a poor drive. Case in point,  a par five and you hit your drive 75 yards. Think about it this way: you were bound to need a 75 yard shot at some point on that hole anyway. You're just hitting it first instead of last, and depending how you play the rest of the hole, it may not affect your score at all. But a muffed chip, or missed putt, that counts as one extra shot and you ain't getting that back.
 
Here are three little gems for help around the green.
 
1. The 5-wood chip. Tiger Woods made this fashionable but its logic predates his birth. Now, why would you chip with a 5 wood? You are close to the green, but far from the hole. You don't need the ball to fly in the air very far, but you do need it to roll a significant distance, and you are smart enough to know you don't try to fly a wedge to the hole when you ought to be rolling the ball. There's mass in the clubhead, which means a smaller (read: error-free) swing can still get the ball moving. And there's just enough loft to get the ball over the fringe. The rest is you judging the distance, which you wojld probably be pretty decent at if tossing the ball underhand. The feel for this shot is no different.

2. The bladed wedge. Lee Trevino taught me this one. The situation that calls for the bladed wedge is when the ball is close to the green and close to the hole. We need to get the ball onto the green, but not risk the ball getting onto the green, and onto the green, and off the green again. Trying to "pitch" a chip a very short distance can see it remain off the green, or go over the green. Each is a wasted shot. But in this scenario, the putter would demand too aggressive a stroke to get the ball through the rough and yet not go too far once on the green. So what we do is line up the shot as if it were a putt, but gently stroke the ball with the leading edge of your pitching wedge. For that matter, choose the wedge in your bag that has the thickest leading edge for this shot, so you get as much club on the ball as possible. The key here is you are not trying to get under the ball, you are trying to hit the equator of the ball with the leading edge. Call it a small but intentional "skull" of the ball. Again a small stroke will suffice, with the mass of the wedge head being enough to get the ball through

3. Toe the putt.  Ever faced that tricky downhill putt, fearful that almost any stroke could send the ball miles if you miss? Try lining up the ball with the toe of your putter and make a normal stroke. With far less mass behind the ball you can make a confident stroke and the ball will not go as far as when you use the sweet spot. Another trick,  on downhillers is to putt confidently to a point half way to the hole, rather than tentatively all the way to the hole. A confident stroke will always roll better than a cautious one!