CADDIE'S ROLE:Technology has brought the game to new and greater heights but sometimes it's better to trust your raw talent.

ONE OF the greatest privileges of an advanced civilisation is the freedom of choice. Our own progressive little plot in Ireland has witnessed the offer of an abundance of choices from medical to material in recent times. Of course choice is no less abundant on the golf tours of the world. The opportunity to change technique, equipment and teachers is rife and an indication of how far the modern golfer has come down the technical road in the last decade.

From my weekly observations in tournaments worldwide, and in particular in America, it has become increasingly clear how much influence the scientists have over a game that is a true art. It makes me wonder just what is the ultimate objective in playing the game of golf; bringing in a score or perfecting a technique?

There is a simple answer to this and for a change I will use Tiger Woods as a shining example of what a player should do (in order to win the tournament) during a competitive week. Compete.

There is an old-fashioned theory which goes back way beyond the arrival of the high-tech driving range: you use what you have brought with you to a golf tournament. It is very difficult, if not impossible, to find a swing by beating balls all day long on the venue driving range. Because if you do find something the chances are that you have exhausted yourself in the process and will not have the resolve or mental awareness left in order to take your form successfully through the back nine on Sunday.

Woods arrives to an event, usually with the 14 clubs he is going to compete with, and puts in a minimal show on the range and consequently a maximised performance on the course. The only time I have seen him engage in lengthy practice sessions, especially during a major, is if he is totally at a loss with his swing.

Otherwise the range is for warm-ups and wind-downs only. All his hard graft is done on his weeks away from tournaments. His focus is strictly on the four days of five-hour rounds and beyond that on non-golf-related fitness or relaxation.

For those with a strong work ethic the idea of leaving the range when there are buckets of balls waiting to be bashed is anathema. Those with no other distractions start to feel guilty and following the lead of leading ball bashers which creeps into the professional psyche; everyone else is doing it so I had better keep up with them.

I got to the range a couple of weeks back in New Orleans. Beyond the banquet table full of gleaming golf balls from every manufacturer known to golf nuts, and past the adroit figures of coaches presiding over their machine-like pupils diligently thrashing balls down the range, and past the representatives with their bags of extra girth filled with the latest booty for the aficionados to while away the day in distraction, lay the most recently abundant techno-toy - the TrackMan.

The TrackMan is a device invented by military scientists in order to track missiles as they fly through the air. As the golf industry expanded, these devices were adopted by the manufacturers in order to assist them with streamlining their ever-changing product range.

The launch monitor basically measures the launch angle, spin rate, club-head speed and smash factor the player gets, among other terribly interesting statistics. There are so many of these machines now on tour driving ranges that there is confusion as to who owns what. Some players even travel with their own machines.

Of course this scientific approach is relevant to top golfers who are after all on a quest for the elusive edge, the narrow margin between success and mediocrity. But what the machines do not tell or lead the golfer to is fortitude on the back nine when you need to hit a great shot and hole the putt under stressful conditions.

I forgot to mention the hordes of mind gurus in the long line of support teams that litter the tournament range. This is their job. Naturally they have a range of their own mind games designed to improve the golfer's ability to deal with the stress of competition.

What the scientists, and more importantly the golfers themselves, need to remember is that most players are innately talented and sometimes, particularly during competition, it is enough just to remember that instead of paralysing the talent through analysis. When good golfers play well they actually become well-oiled and free-flowing machines and not labouring technicians looking for the next button to push.

It is hard to halt the wonderful advances the technologists have made to enhance our lives. But there is a huge danger in science taking precedence over the beautifully skilful and innate art of a wonderful golfer letting his or her natural talent weave in and out of a complex array of birdies and pars en route to a tournament victory. The most sought-after skill is the frequently elusive art of bringing in a score when the launch monitor would have long abandoned you as a failure with your ball striking.

As we warm up for the 73rd US Masters the golfers get a unique opportunity in the modern game to play uninhibited by the technology-pushing manufacturers, who are not permitted to bring their laboratories inside the hallowed gates of Augusta National. They are banished to the environs of the course. The privilege of a truly advanced society is not just having access to information and technology but understanding when to discard it and simply trust your talent.