Just a hunch, but if you’re three-putting a lot, you’ve probably got a couple of things going on with your strategy and stroke that can easily be corrected. In this new series, “Do This, Not That,” I’ll talk about the common mistakes I see on and around the greens, and then offer some simple corrections to help you save shots.

First, on long putts, let’s talk about strategy. When facing a lengthy putt, I’d bet your focus is too much on the path the ball needs to take to the hole. Reading a green is important, but as you get farther away, distance control becomes much more consequential than line. You’re going to have a better proximity to the hole for your second putt if you get your distance correct. The message here is to read the green, sure, but once you’re over the ball, all you should be thinking about is making a stroke that gets the ball to within gimme range.

Ideally, you’d put enough energy into the strike so that the ball would stop no more than 18 inches past the cup should you miss—and odds are you will miss. But for the average player, a putt that stops 12 inches short of the hole is probably a better result than one that stops a few feet past it. The whole point is to alleviate as much pressure as you can for your next putt.

Now on to the stroke itself. The biggest difference between the stroke of a good putter versus that of the average amateur is how energy is created. Average putters make a short backstroke and then race the putterhead through the ball, creating a longer follow-through. Good putters do the opposite: They control distance with the length of their backstroke. The follow-through, in fact, usually ends shortly after the ball is struck. This is an example of a bad stroke (below).

The key to making a better putting stroke is tempo. If the pace that you swing the putterhead remains consistent, all you need to worry about is making a longer backstroke to get the ball to the hole on these longer putts. Keep the tension out of your hands and arms and make a smooth, pendulum-like motion that feels like you’re in no hurry to reach the ball with your putterhead. This is an example of a good stroke (below).

Speaking of the putterhead, one thing that’s critical and doesn’t get talked about enough is the quality of your strike. When you compare the sweet spot of your putter to that of your other clubs, it’s fairly small. If you hit a putt anywhere on the face but the center, the ball likely won’t travel as far, even if you made the proper backstroke and had consistent tempo. That could confuse you as to why your ball didn’t reach the hole, so work on centerface contact. I’m sure you’ve seen variations of the gate drill before, where you put two tees down slightly wider than your putterhead and then hit putts with the goal of missing your tees (below). I’m going to add a little wrinkle to it. While you should start with relatively short putts, the real goal is to miss the gates when you do this drill from long distance. Try to miss the tees on 50- or 60-foot putts where you ball stops near the cup. That’s when your stroke will really be tested.

As you do this gate drill, keep your lower body as still as possible and really try to hit the back of the ball with the center of your putterface. Quality contact is really going to help you with distance. If you get super focused on this process, you might not even see the tee gate. Remember, concentrate on speed (do this) instead of the break (not that) on lag putts. The next time you play, I bet you shave four to six strokes from your score just by avoiding three-putts.

David Armitage is director of instruction at the Shell Bay Club in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

This article was originally published on golfdigest.com