Perception and Action in Golf Putting: Skill Differences Reflect Calibration
in Journal of Sport and Exercise PsychologyClick name to view affiliation
We assessed how golfers cope with the commonly observed systematic overshoot errors in the perception of the direction between the ball and the hole. Experiments 1 and 2, in which participants were required to rotate a pointer such that it pointed to the center of the hole, showed that errors in perceived direction (in degrees of deviation from the perfect aiming line) are destroyed when the head is constrained to move within a plane perpendicular to the green. Experiment 3 compared the errors in perceived direction and putting errors of novice and skilled players. Unlike the perceived direction, putting accuracy (in degrees of deviation from the perfect aiming line) was not affected by head position. Novices did show a rightward putting error, while skilled players did not. We argue that the skill-related differences in putting accuracy reflect a process of recalibration. Implications for aiming in golf are discussed.
Wim H. van Lier is with the Research Institute MOVE, Faculty of Human Movement Sciences, VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and the Academy for Physical Education, University of Professional Education, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. John van der Kamp is with Research Institute MOVE, Faculty of Human Movement Sciences, VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and the Institute of Human Performance, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. Geert J.P. Savelsbergh is with Research Institute MOVE, Faculty of Human Movement Sciences, VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands; the Academy for Physical Education, University of Professional Education, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; and Research Institute for Biomedical Research into Human Movement and Health, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Manchester Metropolitan University, U.K.
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