If you’re a Golf aficionado, there’s always a quest to achieve more accomplishments in the game. And now if a new study is to be believed, it all depends on how long you’re spending over your Golf ball.

 

                             

                                                Spending less time on Golf balls can help improve performance 

 

 

According to the RSM Player Performance study conducted by RSM in collaboration with the European Tour, pro golfers can get more success if they spend less time over the ball.

 

According to the study, spending less time over the ball could earn a European Tour player an extra €189k per season. Now, that’s interesting!

 

The study also reveals that quicker shots improve performance. A shorter time over the ball across all putts results in a 90 per cent increase in the likelihood of strokes gained.

 

That apart, consistency of time spent over the ball leads to a greater chance of making the cut. When players are more consistent in rounds one and two they are 50 per cent more likely to make the cut compared to less consistent players.

 

 

How the study was conducted?

 

 

 

Across five tournaments RSM volunteers collected data on 22,579 shots concentrating on two areas of pre-performance routines;

 

1. Time over the ball

 

According to the study, evidence from recent work at the University of Birmingham showed that the longer a player spends over the ball at address the more they think about their swing. This increased focus on carrying out a movement could lead to reduced performance when well learnt automatic movements, like the golf swings of European Tour players, start to become more consciously controlled rather than free flowing.

 

Time over the ball was recorded by an RSM volunteer positioned inside the ropes 10-15 metres away from the player. The volunteer also recorded the lie of the ball, type of shot and distance to the hole. To further understand the effect of time spent over the ball at address on putts and tee shots, the study investigated what would happen to a player's score if shots, where a player spent one second or more longer than their average at address, were adjusted.

 

 

2. Routine Behaviour

 

A pre-performance routine or more commonly known as a pre-shot routine by golfers is a sequence of shot-relevant thoughts and actions used by a player prior to a shot. A number of scientific studies have suggested that the use of pre-shot routines leads to increased performance. Pre-shot behaviours both before and after address were recorded. This included the number of practice swings, whether the player stood behind the ball for a start line and the number of looks to target after address

 

How they measured it

 

Using the data from the 20 players with more than eight rounds of data for consistency, it was found that should these shots all be set to the outcome of an average putt or shot for that distance to the hole, they would finish the tournament, on average, 1.2 shots lower.