Study On Putting Shows Tiger’s Advice Is Bad

July 16, 2008

A new study on putting techniques shows that Tiger’s advice—keeping you head still—just isn’t very good.

Using an infrared tracking system, researchers recorded the putter head and the golfer’s head during sixty putts.

Surprisingly, both expert and less-skilled golfers moved their heads about the same amount during the execution of putts. The big difference was in the direction: less-skilled golfers moved in an allocentric direction—moving their head in the same direction and timing as the motion of the putter; the expert golfers moved in a tightly coupled but egocentric direction—moving their head in the opposite direction as the putter, but timed similarly to reverse when the putter reversed.

I’ve seen this sort of study a couple of times, and it makes me wonder about the advice you see from the pros in the monthly golf magazines. While the pros are highly skilled, I wonder about their self-awareness. What they think they’re doing might not reflect reality.