Golf is like solitaire. When you cheat, you cheat only yourself.
If I had to cram all my tournament experience into one sentence, I would say, Don't give up and don't let up!
The less said about the putter the better. Here is an instrument of torture, designed by Tantalus and forged in the devil's own smithy.
The best advice I can give for playing a ball out of water is - don't.
A buoyant, positive approach to the game is as basic as a sound swing.
The man who runs from his office to the golf club, gulps a sandwich, belches and races to the first tee has no business howling in anguish when he puts his first two shots in the woods, then tops a 3-iron shot into the pond.