Fortunately, the ability to keep one's cool is something that can be learnt and gained, through experience and confidence, so if you typically turn to jelly when the game comes down to one shot then there are a few techniques that you can employ.

Firstly, take your time. When you're in a high-pressure situation a couple of seconds can feel like hours, but if you take a moment or two to slow everything down and concentrate on breathing properly you'll feel much more relaxed.

Close your eyes and allow yourself as long as you need to breathe slowly, mentally remove yourself from the situation and steady your nerves. Concentrate also on ensuring that your muscles are not tensed up, as this can put your swing at a disadvantage.

Stretch your arms out a couple of times if this helps. Difficult though it might be at first, convince yourself that this shot is no different to one that you placed less importance on earlier in the game - this will help to remove much of the perceived expectation on this particular shot. It may seem impossible, but the more times you do it, the easier it gets.

Have confidence in yourself and your abilities. One of the biggest components of nerves is simply the not knowing of whether you will make the shot or not; trust in your skill and remind yourself that you are completely able to pull it off.

Another way to look at it is to take the pressure off yourself by telling yourself that you don't care whether or not you make it. If pressure, caused by an important shot, makes you perform worse, then remove this pressure by convincing yourself that the shot doesn't matter. This is another technique that gets easier with practice.

You can also help to take your mind off the pressure by focusing your mind on something else: perhaps you frequently suffer from a bad grip when the time comes to line up the final putt, or your footwork goes a little wrong - in which case you can use these flaws to your advantage.

After breathing deeply and using the techniques above to calm your mind, focus on whatever usually trips you up - this will not only help to take your mind off the tense situation, but will also help to rectify a common problem.

When it comes to the green, and all that stands between you and victory is the perfect putt, the pressure really begins to mount up, and the tendency amongst many golfers when lining up for the shot is to shift their eyes quickly between the ball and the target.

This, however, is often a bad idea: after focusing on the target for a second, move your gaze back down to the ball - and don't look back up again until you hear the ball roll into the hole. Resist the urge to keep switching your gaze, and instead trust in your body to know where the target is.

Pressured situations are difficult for everyone to deal with, but practice really does make perfect. Take your time, try out some of the techniques outlined above - even on shots that aren't so important - and you will see an improvement in your game.