Effects of physical randomness training on virtual and laboratory golf putting performance in novices

Abstract

External randomness exists in all sports but is perhaps most obvious in golf putting where robotic putters sink only 80% of 5 m putts due to unpredictable ball-green dynamics. The purpose of this study was to test whether physical randomness training can improve putting performance in novices. A virtual random-physics golf-putting game was developed based on controlled ball-roll data. Thirty-two subjects were assigned a unique randomness gain (RG) ranging from 0.1 to 2.0-times real-world randomness. Putter face kinematics were measured in 5 m laboratory putts before and after five days of virtual training. Performance was quantified using putt success rate and "miss-adjustment correlation" (MAC), the correlation between left-right miss magnitude and subsequent right-left kinematic adjustments. Results showed no RG-success correlation (r = -0.066, p = 0.719) but mildly stronger correlations with MAC for face angle (r = -0.168, p = 0.358) and clubhead path (r = -0.302, p = 0.093). The strongest RG-MAC correlation was observed during virtual training (r = -0.692, p < 0.001). These results suggest that subjects quickly adapt to physical randomness in virtual training, and also that this learning may weakly transfer to real golf putting kinematics. Adaptation to external physical randomness during virtual training may therefore help golfers adapt to external randomness in real-world environments.

The Trade-Off of Virtual Reality Training for Dart Throwing: A Facilitation of Perceptual-Motor Learning With a Detriment to Performance

“…Hence, the unique throwing behavior imposed by the constraints of this virtual learning environment does not transfer to the real world, which could indicate that manipulated objects may not need to be fully immersive in terms of weight, weight distribution, shape, and grip orientation if the acquisition of a specific kinematic pattern is the only goal of a virtual learning of sport skills. These results support previous work that has described how individuals who have learned a skill in virtual reality utilize similar kinematic patterns compared to those who learned the skill in the real world (Bideau et al, 2004;Viau et al, 2004;Fluet et al, 2015;Parijat et al, 2015;Pataky and Lamb, 2018). Overall, it seems that use of a standard handheld VR controller in place of a real-world object may be suitable for acquisition of kinematic patterns despite reducing immersion, although more work is needed to ensure that this observation holds true across different skills and sport performance contexts.…”

“…Of those that do, reports of positive kinematic transfer from virtual to real performance environments are mixed. For example, some recent work has cited similarities between virtual and real-worldtrained individuals on kinematic movement strategies during a real-world performance test on sport-specific tasks such as handball goalkeeping (Bideau et al, 2004) and golf putting (Pataky and Lamb, 2018). On the other hand, another set of studies have described diverging real-world kinematic strategies between those trained in virtual and real environments on tasks such as reaching and grasping (Levin et al, 2015;Thomas et al, 2016).…”

Do Kinematic Study Assessments Improve Accuracy & Precision in Golf Putting? A Comparison between Elite and Amateur Golfers: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…high Pataky & Lamb (2018) The purpose of this study was to test whether physical randomness training can improve putting performance in novices. The authors measured putter face kinematics.…”

Sonification of Golf Putting Gesture Reduces Swing Movement Variability in Novices

“…Because participants exposed to static pink noise similarly improved to those who were presented auditory guidance or error-based sonification, at first glance these results suggest performance enhancement was not influenced by the presence of artificial sound, but rather based on movement familiarisation. There are, of course, countless factors that contribute to golf putting performance, which have been the subject of study, such as the putting green (Pataky & Lamb, 2018). This point is underlined by a report by Kammerer, Menshik, Erlemann, & Lafortune (2014), which found putting robots made only 80% putts at 5 m. These observations taken together suggest that when studying its effect on novices, sonification may play a more important role enhancing putting movements, rather than directly influencing ball distance from the target.…”