It is the most important single stroke in golf, to the extent that a player can never hope to achieve consistent success without becoming reasonably proficient at it. It has been known to cover a multitude of sins. And when it turns sour, the consequences can be of such dire consequence as to actually spell the end of a player's competitive career.

We are talking about putting, often referred to as a game within a game. And modern studies are showing that remarkably few competitors know how to approach it properly, either in practice or play.

For instance, players of all levels regularly fall down in the fundamental task of reading a green. They also have a facility for complicating matters by concerning themselves with such factors as grain. And very few of them know how to practise without running the risk of injury.

Let us first take the area of practice. During the recent Smurfit European Open, Bernhard Langer spoke of his latest recurrence of problems of neck and back problems. "It's no fun walking around unable to move one's neck," he complained. "I just have to take care of myself and take care of my posture. Always bending forward is an obvious source of strain."

Precisely - according to Guy Delacave, director of physiotherapy for the PGA European Tour. Regarding the dangers inherent in practice putting he said: "From a physical point of view, I think it is worse for players to spend time practice putting without walking or moving between putts, than standing hitting shots on the range for the same amount of time."

He went on: "My recommendation to players is that after every three balls of putting, they should at least walk a little bit and stand up. Walking two or three steps will ease the strain on the erector spinae, which is the muscle group travelling the length of the spine."

Delacave recommended certain other precautions to prevent back strain. For instance, when picking the ball out of the hole, a player should bend both knees. He added: "Before practice putting, you should also stretch the lower back muscles. Normally, in the physiotherapy unit, we give the players an overall warm up for golf."

The inaugural issue of Golf Science International, published by the World Scientific Congress of Golf Trust, has other fascinating observations on this element of golf which is largely ignored by the average club player in practice. What form, for instance, should practice take?

The two basic forms of putting practice are constant or variable. In the first form, the player will repeatedly strike a putt of say four feet into the same hole on the putting green. The second form is to vary the length and direction of the putts.

Results of a study undertaken earlier this year, indicated that the constant approach helped novices more than experienced players. This could be attributed to the fact that it reduced the demands on distance estimation and the force needed to be applied to the ball, so leaving the individual free to concentrate on direction and mechanics.

Such considerations were of far less relevance for the experienced player for whom constant practice would not be challenging enough. As a consequence, players such as tournament professionals would be likely to benefit more from variable practice.

But the best putting stroke in the world will be of little use to a player unless he or she becomes adept at reading greens. In this context, I remember reading with some amusement, a Sunday Times article by Henry Longhurst in which he expressed total bafflement at the process of plumbbobbing.

According to experts, studies have found that this method of reading greens makes no significant difference to putting performance. Yet some players still seem to find it useful, as I noticed in the recent West of Ireland Seniors Championship at East Clare, where Denis O'Sullivan employed it on almost every green.

For those unfamiliar with the process, it involves dangling the putter by its grip, held between thumb and forefinger, and then closing one eye. All of this is meant to expose the true gradient of a green, so eliminating the dangers of an optical illusion.

According to American expert Dave Pelz, top-level amateurs tend to mimic the behaviour of professionals to a far greater degree than club golfers, who might consider it presumptuous to do so. On the other hand, club golfers may not know what they're looking for.

In 1994, Pelz carried out a study which examined the ability of golfers to read greens. In the process, he tested 179 amateurs, 128 club professionals and six tournament players. From a previous study in 1989, Pelz identified that the optimum speed at which a ball should approach the hole, was the speed that would carry it 18 inches past, if it missed the target.

He also established that there should be an optimum direction along which the ball should be started. To ascertain this, he used a device called the "True Roller", an inclined ramp down which balls rolled at precisely-controlled speeds in precisely-controlled directions.

In the event, the main finding of his 1994 study was that golfers generally underestimated the break for all putts that broke more than six inches. A six-inch break is the point to which the ball would have rolled, relative to the hole, had the green been flat.

A further, interesting result was that in terms of alignment, players did not aim where they saw the break. On questioning, it was discovered they were not consciously aware of this and, in fact, refused to believe it afterwards.

Incorrect alignment led to "instroke" corrections. An obvious problem here was that the player was not using a consistent stroke, the shape of the stroke being determined by the alignment of the player and the amount of break anticipated.

So, how did the various groups compare? Were professionals noticeably better at reading greens than amateurs? Remarkably, amateurs were only two per cent less accurate than club professionals while club pros were three per cent less accurate than the tournament players. Mind you, when aiming at a hole measuring four and a quarter inches in diameter, those margins of error are highly significant.

The conclusion from the study was that when players are next on the course, crouching down or standing erect to judge the line of a putt, they should make sure they're taking enough break and then ensure that they are actually aiming on the chosen line.

Finally, there is the fraught question of grain on greens. This occurs when grass is mown continually in one direction, causing the leaf blades to grow that way. It could be compared with the nap that occurs on snooker tables.

I have experienced grain on courses on Spain's Costa del Sol and, to my surprise, at Augusta National. Experts insist that this can't be so, yet I distinctly remember a surprisingly slow putt across the 11th green at Augusta. I also recall a straight, six-footer down the green at the seventh where the ball veered slightly to the left. My caddie blamed this on the grain of the green.

Still, Dr Mike Canaway, chief executive of the Sports Turf Research Institute in Britain, claims: "Our head of agronomy, who has visited hundreds of golf courses including championship venues on behalf of the R and A, has never seen grain on greens in the UK."

He further suggested that according to the national director of the US Golf Association Green Section, grain has become an issue in America, only "since certain TV commentators still keep referring to it".

The point is made that commentators seeing a ball sliced off the tee, will correctly identify cause and effect, but in the case of a putt, they seem more willing to suspend reason and ascribe some outside agency such as grain, as the cause of a failed attempt.

"This is particularly ridiculous on tournament courses, which receive such a high level of maintenance," said Canaway. "So, on well maintained courses, forget about grain and practise your putting."