Successful Golfers More Likely to See a Larger Hole

Wednesday July 9, 2008

A new study by Purdue researcher Jessica K. Witt reports that golfers who play well are more likely to see the hole as larger than their poor-playing counterparts.

Jessica K. Witt, an assistant professor of psychological sciences has been studying perception in athletes with some interesting results. According Witt, "Golfers have said that when they play well the hole looks as big as a bucket or basketball hoop, and when they do not play well they've been quoted as saying the hole looks like a dime or the inside of a donut. What athletes say about how they see the hole and how well they play is true. We found golfers who play better judge the hole to be bigger than golfers who did not play as well."

Golfers Perception of Hole Size These findings also are consistent with Witt's 2005 study of softball players that showed a correlation between player batting averages and how they perceived the size of the softball.

Witt doesn't yet know the cause and effect relationship of these perceptions. That is, do good golfers simply see the hole as larger or does seeing the hole as larger improve your golf game.

_{Photo © Jessica K. Witt}

Her next studies aim to look at visual tricks golfers can use to see the hole as larger, and find out if that improves golf scores. If it turns out to be the case, they may be more an more golfers and other athletes using visualization techniques in a whole new way.

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