ERNIE Els, by his own admission, has never been first in the gym. When you have as much talent as he does, gym work is seen as a chore, not a prerequisite for success.
But at 42, the three-time major champion is taking special care of the most important muscles in his body in an effort to regain his place at the top of the game in the autumn of his career - those in his eyes.
Sherylle Calder, the vision coach who assisted England in 2003 and the Springboks in 2007 to Rugby World Cup success, has put Els on an "eye gym" programme to help him improve his game.
Els's biggest problem in recent years has been inconsistency with his putter.
Last year, he made the top 10 once in 21 PGA Tour starts - his worst return since 1994.
His only victory was at the SA Open on the European Tour and his world ranking plummeted to a career-worst 71.
So desperate had he become that he switched to a long putter midway through last season, a device he vehemently denounced when he was a standard feature in the top five on the world rankings.
It's a decision about which he's still conflicted.
"Although I've used it for, what, six months now, I feel the same as most of the traditionalists. I feel that no club should be anchored to your body," Els said this week.
"I was in such a state that I felt I needed to change something, which I did. I went to the belly. It hasn't really helped me that much. Ban it. It's fine."
Calder met him at the recent Volvo Champions tournament in George and diagnosed that his eyes needed exercise to help him repair his short game.
"Every decision you make in golf is based purely on what you see and how you process that information," Calder says.
"I've been working specifically with Ernie on his putting.
"Putting is based on reading the line and length, the angle of the slope - reading the green essentially - and that is all visual information.
"Basically, his eyes weren't fit enough for 18 holes of golf and that's why I have him in what we call the 'eye gym'. Like any muscles, the eyes need exercise.
"As your eyes fatigue, so decisions become compromised.
''A misread of one millimetre becomes a miss of two centimetres in the end. The eyes feed all the information to the brain, which relays it to the rest of the body."
Calder feels Els should return to a standard-length putter.
" I've advised him that it would be better for his game, " she said.
Els's putting woes won't disappear overnight and his new regime, which requires doing visual exercise for only 10 minutes a day, will take some time to produce results.
But if there is one thing Calder is good at, it's adding the finishing touches to an already excellent package to give it that vital edge.
Any way you see it, Ernie has his eyes on the prize.
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