"They forget how to trust themselves."

Lorne Rubenstein makes a strong case for Rory McIlroy separating himself apart from other young players thanks to his continued play by instinct, as opposed to having teachers drilling "instincts out of them."

They forget how to trust themselves. A young woman was seen in a Canadian Women’s Amateur some years ago stepping off yardages on a pitch shot. It was hard to believe: She felt she needed to know whether the shot was 29 yards, say, rather than trusting her eye and her experience. She was already OCD, metaphorically speaking—apologies to all who are truly afflicted with this debilitating condition - and it’s not surprising that her competitive career hit a wall.

Sergio Garcia provides another lesson here. Garcia was 19 and playing with pure joy when he hit his tee shot behind a tree on the 16th hole of the final round in the 1999 PGA Championship at the Medinah Country Club near Chicago. His ball was up against a root. Garcia closed his eyes reflexively as he came through the ball, and hit a massive slice. He ran up the fairway to a rise from where he could see the flight of his ball. It finished on the green. Beautiful. The teenager finished second to Tiger Woods.

Garcia has gotten slower over the years. He’s studied golf rather than played golf. Like many players as they age, he’s trying to get back to golf by instinct rather than golf by numbers. Ernie Els is in his 40s now and in a slump. He’s said he needs to play golf again rather than think so much. That translates into speeding up his game. Maybe the damage has been done to the extent that Els can no longer trust himself.

It can become quite sad.