This is just a bandaid on a bigger wound

Not playing well? Then sack your caddie. It’s the oldest and most cliched response to a poor stretch of form in professional golf. Let’s be honest, we expected better from Lydia Ko.

The world No 1 has endured a horror stretch by her high standards over the past month and so poor Jason Hamilton has gone. All those great memories of wins together, including her two majors, burned on the altar of sacrifices to the golfing gods.

It may be the easiest change but clearly it’s a bandaid on a bigger problem.

Hamilton wasn’t causing her to miss fairways and greens. That’s down to Ko and her swing coach, David Leadbetter.

He’s the man you’ve heard quoted far and wide extolling the virtues of the A-Swing (order the book and video on this toll-free number . . .) which he’s introduced to Ko’s game over the past couple of years. Extra yards on demand he promised as they tinkered with her swing in the last off-season.

But a look at the stats show a different picture. Actually they show almost the same picture. Average distance of 247 yards this year. Average distance of 250 yards last year. So Ko has changed that delightful swing for the loss of three yards on average. I hope there’s a money-back guarantee with the free steak knives.

There’s fewer dangerous things for a professional golfer than the pursuit of more distance. Just ask Luke Donald. The former men’s world No 1 decided he had to hit the ball further to contend in majors. And how did that work out? Well, suffice to say he couldn’t make a weak European Ryder Cup team for Hazeltine and is now ranked No 73 in the world.

As well as losing yards, Ko has developed a nasty miss to the left – one of the perils of a draw (a shot that moves from right to left). She has hit 70 per cent of fairways this year. Last year that figure was 75 per cent.

Less distance and less accuracy is not a good combination. There has been a bit of buzz from those in the know, including Aussie major winner Geoff Ogilvy, that her swing changes don’t make sense.

Most golfers try to eradicate a miss to the left (Tiger Woods and Dustin Johnson for example), while Lydia has voluntarily introduced one.

Missing more fairways has had a knock-on effect too. Her greens in regulation have also dropped – from 77 per cent last year to 71 per cent this year.

Now, is her slump down to those swing changes? It’s hard to say for certain but it’s a hell of a lot more likely than being the fault of Jason Hamilton.

Quite possibly it could simply be exhaustion. It’s a long season and, thanks to the Olympics, even longer this year. She probably just needs a decent rest to recharge but, due to sponsorship commitments on the Asian swing, needs to turn up at those tournaments to which she has committed.

From all accounts her team wanted Ko to wait until the end of the season before making any changes but she was adamant she wanted Hamilton gone now.

Remember this was the man who talked her out of going for the green in two at the ANA Inspiration this year when she needed a birdie. She listened and was rewarded with birdie after a perfect wedge to win her second major.

Blaming the caddie is a dangerous road to go down. Just ask Robert ‘The Beast’ Allenby and the 20-odd caddies he’s hired and fired.

‘‘[Jason] Hamilton wasn’t causing her to miss fairways and greens. That’s down to Ko and her swing coach, David Leadbetter.’’ Phil Hamilton ‘‘Maybe she just got tired of him, that happens with people sometimes.’’ Liam Hyslop