American
researchers in cognitive sciences discovered a strange effect of perception
which could be useful for golf. You only have to imagine that the hole on the
green is wider than it really is to improve of 10 % the chances to get the ball
into the hole.
By Marielle
Court – Le Figaro.
The golfers
know it well: putting that’s what makes
the difference! The study which has just been published in Psychological
Science thus may concern more than one fierce player on the green. Indeed, it
shows that you can improve your putting by the game of the imagination."
The players improve their putts when they have the illusion that the hole is
wider ", explains Jessica K. Witt, author of this study and researcher in
cognitive sciences at the University of Purdue (United States). They would
improve their chance of 10 %.
According
to the scientists, the only idea that the hole is bigger makes the player more
confident with his capacities. “According to the perception which players have
of their environment, we know that it influences the way he/she plays. It works
for the basketball or the handball, and now we realize that thinking to a
bigger objective than it is, also leads to an improvement of the performance”, adds
the scientist. Previous studies have already shown that the players of softball
(feminine version of the baseball) who sent back better the ball saw it bigger
than it is. That also goes for soccer players who would mark more goals only
because they imagine that the net is bigger.
To realize
the experiment, 36 players made a putt on holes seemingly from different sizes
thanks to various big luminous circular projections. By giving the illusion
that the hole was relatively bigger, the small circles of light allowed the
golfers a better success.
