title: Improving performance by anchoring movement and "nerves".
abstract: Golf's governing bodies' recent decision to ban all putting styles "anchoring one end of the club against the body" bridges an important practical problem with psychological theory. We report the first experiment testing whether anchoring provides technical and/or psychological advantage in competitive performance. Many "greats" of professional golf from Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus to Tiger Woods have argued against anchoring, believing that it takes "nerves" out of competitive performance and therefore artificially levels the playing field. To shed more light on the issue, we tested participants' performance with anchored and unanchored putters under low and high pressure when controlling for the putter length. We found no statistically significant evidence for a technical advantage due to anchoring but a clear psychological advantage: participants who anchored their putters significantly outperformed unanchored counterparts under high, but not low, pressure. Results provide tentative evidence for the ban's justification from a competitive standpoint. However, before any definite conclusions can be made, more research is needed when using high-level golfers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA. Electronic address: isoahol@umd.edu.
authors.forename: Seppo E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Iso-Ahola
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Charles O
authors.initials: CO
authors.lastname: Dotson
authors.affiliation: School of Kinesiology, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA.
authors.forename: Adam E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Jagodinsky
authors.affiliation: School of Kinesiology, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA.
authors.forename: Lily C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.affiliation: School of Kinesiology, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA.
authors.forename: Lorraine L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Smallwood
authors.affiliation: School of Kinesiology, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wilburn
authors.affiliation: School of Kinesiology, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA.
authors.forename: Wendi H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Weimar
authors.affiliation: School of Kinesiology, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA. Electronic address: mwm0024@auburn.edu.
authors.forename: Matthew W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Miller
mesh_terms: D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology; D003163:Competitive Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006055:Golf / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010525:Peripheral Nerves / Q000502:physiology*; D011582:Psychological Theory; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Anchoring; Performance; Psychological pressure