Training in Timing Improves Accuracy in Golf

In this experiment, the authors investigated the influence of training in timing on performance accuracy in golf. During pre- and posttesting, 40 participants hit golf balls with 4 different clubs in a golf course simulator. The dependent measure was the distance in feet that the ball ended from the target. Between the pre- and posttest, participants in the experimental condition received 10 hr of timing training with an instrument that was designed to train participants to tap their hands and feet in synchrony with target sounds. The participants in the control condition read literature about how to improve their golf swing. The results indicated that the participants in the experimental condition significantly improved their accuracy relative to the participants in the control condition, who did not show any improvement. We concluded that training in timing leads to improvement in accuracy, and that our results have implications for training in golf as well as other complex motor activities.     

Cognitive processes among skilled miniature golf players: Effects of instructions on motor performance, concentration time, and perceived difficulty

Highly skilled miniature golf players were examined on a simplified miniature golf task under different instructional conditions. Results indicated that requirements to attend to a variety of technical aspects of the game during preparation impaired motor performance, whereas providing players with those aspects of the game they reported thinking of did not affect motor performance. Data on concentration time and perceived difficulty indicated that increasing cognitive demands were associated with a decline in motor precision. The overall pattern of results was interpreted such that attention directed at technical aspects of the game interfered with the players' normal cognitive activity. Susceptibility to interference is a characteristic feature of controlled cognitive operations. Thus, the present results are consistent with the view that conscious cognitive activity may support motor behavior also at late stages of skill development.     

Managing the Rhythmic Complexity of Hitting a Golf Ball

ABSTRACT

The authors investigated how the force pattern exerted on a golf club is coordinated with the golfer's weight shift, which supplies power to the swing. Moderately skilled golfers (n = 10, 5–10 stroke handicap) hit short golf shots requiring different amounts of force. Across these different shots, the timing of the force pattern applied to the clubhead was approximately invariant even though the force magnitude varied. In contrast, the weight shift timing and magnitude both varied with the required force of the shot. Across repeated attempts at the same shot, temporal variations in the clubhead force pattern were either uncorrelated or only weakly correlated with temporal variations in the weight shift. Together, these data indicate that the weight shift is a relatively independent, adjustable rhythmic unit from the invariant clubhead timing pattern for moderately skilled golfers.     

Intact Procedural Knowledge in Patients with Alzheimer's Disease: Evidence from Golf Putting

Can Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients efficiently learn to perform a complex motor skill when relying on procedural knowledge? To address this question, the authors compared the golf-putting performance of AD patients, older adults, and younger adults in 2 different learning situations: one that promotes high error rates (thus increasing the reliance on declarative knowledge) or one that promotes low error rates (thus increasing the reliance on procedural knowledge). Motor performance was poorer overall for AD patients and older adults relative to younger adults in the high-error condition but equivalent between similar groups in the low-error condition. Also, AD patients in the low-error condition had better performance at the final putting distance relative to those in the high-error condition. This performance facilitation for AD patients likely stems from intact procedural knowledge.     

Further Tests of Schmidt’s Schema Theory

The present study investigated the generalizability of Schmidt’s (1975) schema theory to an open-skill (Poulton, 1957) situation. Subjects attempted to time a preferred-hand button press so that it was coincident with the lighting of the last of a series of runway lights whose apparent velocity was 4023 mm/sec. Prior to five trials of performance on the criterion task, subjects received 40 trials in which they either (a) watched (low response requirements) or (b) responded with the nonpreferred hand (high response requirements) to a stimulus moving at (a) a constant (2235, 3129, 4917, or 5812 mm/sec) velocity (low stimulus variability) or (b) different velocities (high stimulus variability) from trial to trial. Subjects receiving high stimulus variability and high response requirements during training had significantly lower absolute error on the criterion task than did those in the other conditions. The results were discussed in terms of the type of practice which facilitates development of a schema rule for coincident-timing situations.     

Age-Related Differences in the Rhythmic Structure of the Golf Swing

Participants were 20 younger golfers (M age = 19.8 years, SD = 1.84 years) and 20 older golfers (M age = 63.0 years, SD = 2.55 years) who attempted 40- and 80-yard eight-iron shots requiring an adjustment of their force and timing. No age-related differences were found in the tempo or speed of the shot; however, there were differences in the rhythmic relationship between the clubhead force and the weight shift. Whereas younger golfers primarily exhibited a 3 versus 2 polyrhythmic pattern between the peak forces of the clubhead and weight shift, older golfers primarily exhibited a simpler 3 versus 3 rhythmic force pattern by adding a forward weight shift at the beginning of the shot. Additionally, older golfers exhibited less independence between the timing of the clubhead force and weight shift, which indicated greater use of a single integrated coordinative unit rather than 2 units. These findings are interpreted as compensations for age-related slowing and increased temporal variability that help to preserve tempo at a speed comparable to younger adults.     

Verbal-Motor Attention-Focusing Instructions Influence Kinematics and Performance on a Golf-Putting Task

The authors examined how varying the content of verbal-motor instructions and requesting an internal versus external focus influenced the kinematics and outcome of a golf putting task. On Day 1, 30 novices performed 120 trials with the instruction to focus attention either on performing a pendulum-like movement (internal) or on the desired ball path (external). After 20 retention trials on Day 2, they performed 20 transfer trials with the opposite instruction. Group differences for retention and a group by block interaction showed that external instruction enhanced movement outcome. Kinematic data indicated that specific instruction content influenced outcomes by eliciting changes in movement execution. Switching from the external to the internal focus instruction resulted in a more pendulum-like movement.     

Analysis of Pelvis-Thorax Coordination Patterns of Professional and Amateur Golfers during Golf Swing

The aim of this research was to quantify the coordination pattern between thorax and pelvis during a golf swing. The coordination patterns were calculated using vector coding technique, which had been applied to quantify the coordination changes in coupling angle (γ) between two different segments. For this, fifteen professional and fifteen amateur golfers who had no significant history of musculoskeletal injuries. There was no significant difference in coordination patterns between the two groups for rotation motion during backswing (p = 0.333). On the other hand, during the downswing phase, there were significant differences between professional and amateur groups in all motions (flexion/extension: professional [γ] = 187.8°, amateur [γ] = 167.4°; side bending: professional [γ] = 288.4°, amateur [γ] = 245.7°; rotation: professional [γ] = 232.0°, amateur [γ] = 229.5°). These results are expected to be a discriminating measure to assess complex coordination of golfers' trunk movements and preliminary study for interesting comparison by golf skilled levels.