title: Head-putter coordination patterns in expert and less skilled golfers.
abstract: The authors examined the patterns of expert and less skilled golfers in putting on an indoor surface to 1 of 3 circular targets (1, 3, and 5 m away) in trials with a ball present (and putted) or not present (a practice stroke). As expected, the experts performed better than the less skilled golfers on a large number of outcome and kinematic measures. Displacement and velocity profiles of the head and putter revealed high positive correlations for the less skilled golfers, indicating a dominant allocentric coordination pattern, but high negative correlations for the expert golfers, indicating a dominant egocentric coordination pattern. The observed coordination patterns did not interact with the distance of the intended putt or the presence/absence of a ball. These findings offer preliminary evidence that, although contrary to traditional beliefs, fundamental differences exist in putting coordination modes between expert and less skilled golfers.
authors.affiliation: McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. scapps@mcmaster.ca
authors.forename: Timothy D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Tadao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ishikura
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kegel
authors.forename: Dave
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gonzalez
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Passmore
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004215:Distance Perception / Q000502:physiology; D006055:Golf / Q000502:physiology*; D006257:Head; D019416:Head Movements / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009142:Musculoskeletal Physiological Phenomena; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D013997:Time Factors