I am well aware of the fact that for there to be a bottom, there must be a top.

However, the top of golf is Tiger Woods. He's made the bottom more bottom than a bottom ever was before.

He takes 7 weeks out of tournament golf. No doubt practicing all the time. Comes back and blows away the field in his first tournament of the year by 8 shots, then hops over to Dubai and scores a -7 in his first round.

We've all heard of his work ethic. He does everything in his power to get better. Whether it's pumping iron, running for miles or actually practicing his game. All of what he does is geared to improvement. And he still isn't at his best by his own reckoning.

Now, there are a few hundred other golfers in the top tier of the sport. All will have ample amounts of time to practice and train.

So what is it that makes Tiger Woods different from the rest? So different that he has to have a really bad day to allow anyone else into contention. Alternatively another player has to have a blinding round by their own standards to even come close to him.

Can this ability be learned?

Is anyone on the pro circuit close to understanding how he plays golf? Physically? Maybe. Between the ears? Nowhere near. Even those close to him don't understand how he does it.

In his 8 shot romp at the Buick he drove the ball all over the place at times (again) but still shot good numbers. The media always focuses on his swing and his work with Haney. What about his short game?

The short game is so incredibly over-looked by everyone in favour of the full swing.

The short game is where you get the confidence that spreads through the rest of your game. The short game is where you make birdies or save pars.

One can always play the short game well, once your own touch and shots have been practiced (even for a short while). There is no massive mystique surrounding short game techniques like there is for the full swing. It's easy to learn.

I went and spent 50 minutes chipping and pitching at my home course the other day. By the end of that one 50 minute session I felt I could go and knock 4 shots off my last score. I holed 3 chips and one 40 yard pitch and by the end I wasn't further away than 10 feet from 50 yards.

If your short game is good, it feeds your long game. If you've practiced shots where you've missed the green by any distance, then you won't be so hung up on knocking it close from 100 or 150 yards. Ironically, this will free you up to allow you to knock it close more often. And when you miss the surface, your confidence knows you've practiced getting up and down enough for it to not make a difference, which balloons your confidence even more. And so it goes on.

Interestingly enough, practicing pitching helps your long game mechanics. Instead of heaving away at ball after ball, practicing your pitching helps your ball control. It helps you feel a solid impact. It promotes good mechanics in the hitting area, the feeling for which will transfer to your long game and transform the way you hit the ball off the tee.

For those who have spent the winter months working on your long game alone, I implore you to spend atleast 1 hour per week practicing all aspects of your short game right through the rest of the season. Starting now.

Tiger knows that regardless of how he hits his driver, he can score. He has had the time to practice his short game so much that it has turned (90% of the time) his bad rounds into everyone elses average rounds.

There's the difference.

I know that not many of us on here will have the time to put in as much practice as they would like (and certainly nowhere near the world's best), but any short game practice is good practice. I defy anyone to come back from a short game practice session and say "I didn't enjoy that. It all went wrong today". But I'm sure we've all had range sessions like that.

As Mr Rotella would say; fall back in love with getting the ball in the hole.

It's absolutley evident that Tiger loves his short game. The next time you see a tournament on telly, look closely at the body language around the green. Even a lot of pro's fear chipping and putting. You can see it in their bodies and their faces. Then compare it to the man who spends most of his practice time from 50 yards in. He's looking to hole it, or leave himself the easiest putt possible.

That confidence can be learned. Not by learning how to think confidently, but by practicing the tools of your game that mean you can only think confidently about the outcome.

Thanks for reading.