re: Chipping/putting advice

Beginners should just learn how to hit draws, fades, punch shots, high spinners, the two hop and check too. Yeah, ideally everybody would learn how to hit multiple shots around the greens, but the fact is that's going to take a ton of time and practice which most people don't have. If the guy that plays a couple of times a month (like the OP) can just become consistent with one club and not chunk or thin it often they are going to be a lot better. Again, once you get consistent with one shot/club you can learn how to hot flops or low spinners, but if you can't keep the ball on the green everytime with one shot why would you try to teach multiple?