It’s often said that professional golfers play a different game than recreational golfers, and in many ways that’s true. But when you boil it down to basics, pros and amateurs pursue the exact same goal: get the ball into the hole in the fewest strokes possible.

Obviously, pros are extremely good at this, and many of their skills require a talent level and/or practice time that most of us simply aren’t blessed with. That doesn’t mean, however, that you should only focus on the scores when watching the pros perform. Spend a weekend afternoon dialed into a PGA, Champions, Nationwide or LPGA Tour event and you can pick up plenty of tactics that will transfer to your game.

You just have to know what to look for — and that’s what this series is all about. It’s designed to help you get better while doing something you’re probably planning on anyway: watching professional golf on TV. Or better yet, in person.

The articles in this section tackle these topics and more, explaining why a particular skill is valuable, which pros do it best, and – most importantly – how to apply their methods to your game.

Note: There is one area where it’s NOT advisable to emulate the world’s best players: pace of play. Remember, pros compete for outrageous sums of money, so reading every putt from every angle makes sense for them. For regular golfers, keeping things moving is paramount for everyone’s enjoyment, and for the good of the game.