Vc = 2D(1/T)(PT/k)(1-PT 2 )(1/k)-1.

Is this the formula Tiger Woods used on his way to victory at St Andrews recently?

Teams from universities at Edinburgh, Strathclyde and Marseille and Grenoble studied the putting of ten golfers with handicaps under five. Each putt was analysed using infrared cameras capable of taking 200 pictures a second.

The researchers found golfers use a system known as "tau-coupling" to time putts. Each player has an in-built "tau-guide" which governs the timing of the movement of club to ball.

Dr Madeleine Grealy of Strathclyde said: "Good golfers link their actions to a tau-guide in a particular way. Of course, an ability to read a green also helps."

The Perfect Putt Formula:
Vc = 2D(1/T)(PT/k)(1-PT 2 )(1/k)-1

Vc = club velocity; D = amplitude of forward swing; T = time of forward swing; PT = proportion of time before the ball is hit from the top of the Swing; k = a figure used by psychologists to denote how golfers' internal guide couples with the timing of the shot.

Source: The The Sun Newspaper