I’m going to let you into a little secret here. When I play golf with people they often think that I'm very, very generous, displaying good, good shows of etiquette, I'm always the one that wants to take the flag out for people. And the secret here is that I'm not really that generous, I'm not really that good with the golf etiquette. What I actually want to do is I want to have a good chance to read my putts. So I'll always say to people, “Would you like me to go and get the flag?” And that gives me great excuse to walk the length of the green to get the flag and then to stand and to watch them have a putt towards me so I can see how that ball breaks, see how it curves, see how it rolls around the hole.

All the time I'm watching for little clues on the green to see how the ball will break watching whether they're under or over hit. Even feeling with my feet, standing around the hole feeling with my feet uphill, downhill, left and right. Then once I've taken the flag out, laid it on the ground I can then have another chance to walk back around to my golf ball. I'll often walk a full circle so I walk back the different way so I might walk down the hill this way, take the flag out and then walk back up the hill this way. That means I've had chance to do a full 360 degree turn around my ball without actually taking too long.

We know there is quite a lot of pressure on golfers now to speed up the pace of play, so it's difficult to do that full 360 degree walk around the long putt without feeling like you're going too slowly. But if you are a generous golfer, show good signs of etiquette, you offer to take the flag out for golfers, that’s a great excuse to walk the full length of your putt, watching, reading, feeling with your feet, come back to your ball then you’ve got a much better idea on how the ball will break as you roll it down towards the hole. Take the flag out and you'll be a better putter.