If Darren Clarke, Paul McGinley, Christy O'Connor Jnr or Padraig Harrington sink a crucial putt at this year's British Open, it may not be because of their skill. It might just be that their VC equals 2D(1/T) and is working out just fine. The equation is just the first part of a complicated formula worked out by psychologists who have studied what makes top players get the ball into the hole with such precision.

Apparently it is a matter of whether the golfer's tau coupling is running smoothly. Everybody has a tau in the brain and a tau in the body. The coupling of the two defines whether a golfer can putt well or badly. The formula links the brain with the actions of the body and after a series of tests carried out using infra-red cameras on 10 would-be professional golfers, all with a handicap lower than five, they have come up with the formula.

VC is club velocity; D is amplitude of forward swing . . . do you really need to know all of this guff?