As Tiger Woods roared back to the summit of the world golf rankings, the above phrase was in the back of my mind. This phrase is often bandied about at my local club but I personally don’t think it is relevant to the regular amateur player.  I think that keeping the ball in play from the tee is more important as it ultimately makes very little difference how many putts you take if you’ve hit 5 or 6 shots before reaching the green.  However, I think the phrase is significant in the professional game where every player has a good long game, excellent short game, and everything else that goes along with being a tour player.  Last week’s tournament at Bay Hill  illustrated this point perfectly; where Tiger finished well down the rankings in almost every department apart from the most important one – putting!

By Gary Sheppard.  Gary is one of our Golf Travel Specialists.