Jeev's contrarian call is a novel way to tackle courses

Professional golfers are generally extremely meticulous about their preparation for tournaments. Even if they have played a golf course several times, it is not unusual to see them put in two or three practice rounds before teeing up.

The old yardage books are dusted and marked again for any minor, or major, changes. Distances are checked and re-checked. Strategies are re-worked, since most of them are constantly adding yardage on their shots with the advent of latest models of drivers and irons.

Particular attention is paid to the contours of the greens. They can point out the subtlest of changes, and can recollect the exact pin positions on all four days for the last four years, thus gaining a perspective on possible pin placement during the week.

There are various strategies the pros employ in reconnoitering a course, but after his experience over the last couple of week's, Indian ace Jeev Milkha Singh, who won the Austrian Open on Sunday, thinks he has stumbled upon the perfect strategy – play it blind.

It so happened that Jeev had never played the Twenty Ten course, host venue of the Celtic Manor Wales Open and the 2010 Ryder Cup, and the Fontana Golf Club in Vienna, where he finally broke his 18-month long title drought.

Busy trying to set up his new house in Sunningdale, Jeev reached Newport on a Tuesday, thinking he would be able to squeeze in one practice round and the pro-am on Wednesday to get familiar with the course. Both days got rained out.

In Vienna, he had almost decided not to play, but changed his mind at the last minute. Jeev was banking on the pro-am for his first look at Fontana, but rains again scuttled his plans, forcing not just the pro-am, but also the first round to be cancelled.

With only the yardage book to go by, Jeev opened with a six-under 65 before finishing inside the top-10 in Wales, and a seven-under 64 in Vienna.

When asked about his secret, Jeev said: "I think I must do this more often! But seriously, the key was that since I did not have much idea of where the dangers were and which side of the green was better to miss and things like that, I just kept my game simple and tried to play as straight as I possibly could.

"The whole idea was to play regulation golf and then hope to make single putts. Of course, what helped me was the fact that I was hitting the ball very well going into the tournaments."

So, there you have it. The secret of playing good golf – keep it simple!