Movement control in golf putting

The purpose of the study was to understand how force is controlled for impact movements such as golf putting. Expert players (10) and control subjects (10) executed a putt as accurately as possible, in order to reach a target distance of 1, 2, 3, or 4 m., Movements of the club were recorded at 200 Hz via a SELSPOT system. Overall, the results showed that, in order to increase club velocity at the moment of contact with the ball with increasing distance of the target, subjects increased the downswing (DS) amplitude maintaining DS movement time constant. The change in force required to reach the different distances seemed to rely on an adjustment of the magnitude of the motor command within the same time period. Furthermore, our results showed that the movement of putting consists primarily in specifying the amplitude of the Backswing (BS) as a function of the distance of the target. This gives rise to a motor impulse originating the force-time function required for an adequate DS movement. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.