If your ball is 75 yards away from the green, you would think to pitch the ball onto the green and you would be right. If the ball were only two yards off the green, you would chip it on. But what do you do when the ball lies at an in-between distance and you're not sure which shot to hit? Here are four rules to help you decide.

1. Look at the ground between your ball and the green. If there's a bunker in the way, or high grass, or a ditch, or anything that would prevent a rolling ball from getting on the green, you have to hit the ball over the obstacle. A pitch in this situation is automatic.

2. Assuming there's a clear path to the green, check the lie. If the lie is tight, that is, there isn't much grass underneath the ball, chip. Your chances of mis-hitting a shot off a tight lie are much greater with a wedge in your hands than with a 7-iron.

So now you have a fluffy lie and good ground to play across. Chip or pitch? Decide this way: measure the distance from the ball to the edge of the green and from the edge of the green to the pin. The relative length of these two distances is what will make the decision for you.

3. If the ball-to-edge distance is less than the edge-to-pin distance, chip. Letting the ball run across the ground is always the safer and more accurate shot. You have lots of green to work with, so go ahead and use it. Plan to hit your ball so it lands 5-6 feet beyond the edge of the green, to give yourself a comfortable margin of error, and let the ball run the rest of the way.

4. If the ball-to-edge distance is more than the edge-to-pin distance, pitch. There isn't a lot of room for a running ball to stop now. You have to get the ball on the green and bring it to a halt relatively soon. Choose one of your wedges and hit the ball so it lands at least halfway from the edge of the green to the pin. The resulting run-out should get the ball close enough so that one putt is a real possibility.

Beware, in this situation, of hitting a running shot that goes for too long a distance over the ground before it gets to the green. What looks like good ground might not be. The higher grass can disguise spots that would grab the ball and stop it, or bumps in the ground that would send it off line.

Using a few basic shots in a system like this will simplify your short game. You will be able to stand over the ball and concentrate on hitting the shot, rather than still be wondering whether this is the right shot to hit. This system will also get the ball closer to the hole, more often.

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