PGA Features

The golfing gods must be laughing at all of us who play this wonderfully annoying game.

You hit a career best majestic long shot onto a green only to be greeted with a monster putt on a green that surely must have elephants buried underneath it!

Garcia's monster putt on the fourth hole was no fluke because if you watch the field at Birkdale from long range, they rarely rattle the ball past the hole.

Time and again a long putt will just be nudged up to the hole. The rule of 'never up, never in' doesn't come into it when you'd be happy to two putt from half a mile away. With this kind of touch, a long one into the cup is only a matter of time.

Next time you're going out to play, don't dwell on five minutes of holing six footers. Get a feel for the pace of the greens - they may not be exactly the same pace as those on the course but you'll be improving your touch anyway.

Try this drill - hit your first putt down the green at least 20 feet to a random space, then try to roll your next one just past the first, do the same with a third, fourth and fifth ball and see how close you can get the group.

If there is only a couple of feet between each ball - you're doing very well. As soon as you leave one short of the previous one, start again.

Oh and don't forget to practise putts from just off the green - I'm sure Greg Norman was happy he did! Long putts, play your own strategy, hybrids from off the green, use the slopes.

Nevil Bland is head PGA professional at Brocton Hall.