Training golf

Training golf

Scenario 1

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.

GOLFERS are constantly looking for ways to improve their performance. One of the ways in which they attempt to accomplish this is through the use of the modern or "high-tech" golf club. Although it is not clear whether performance is enhanced with the modern club, this quick-fix approach is popular, as evidenced by the millions of dollars spent annually on such clubs. The second way of trying to improve performance is through instruction. This approach is also popular, as witnessed by the numerous swing instructors (the so-called swing gurus), schools and academies, magazines, videos, and books devoted to improvement in golf. However, as with the modern golf club, it is not clear what impact instruction has on performance.

Golf aids, commonly used in conjunction with instruction, are another way in which golfers try to enhance performance (Wiren, 1995). There are numerous golf aids on the market. For example, a golfer who believes that he or she has a problem with wrist movement may use an aid (worn on the hand and wrist) that allows only for the appropriate movement. This approach is also popular (witness the common caricature of the golfer weighted down with a multitude of golf aids) but, like the other performance-enhancing approaches, there is little, if any, evidence to support the efficacy of this one.

In contrast to the applied approaches directed toward the improvement of golf performance, there is another approach, in which researchers are more concerned with understanding the nature of the golf swing (e.g., Cochran, 1992, 1995; Cochran & Stobbs, 1968; Hay, 1978; Jorgensen, 1994). This approach implies that understanding the golf swing will lead to its improvement and ultimately to lowered golf scores. Also for researchers, the golf swing, because of its complex nature, poses some interesting intellectual challenges.

Cochran and Stobbs (1968) attempted to simplify the complexity of this phenomenon by modeling the golf swing as a double pendulum system in which two levers rotate about a fixed pivot. The fixed point is between the golfer's shoulders, and it is fixed only in the sense that it ...