The world’s best golfers make playing look so effortless, it’s hard to imagine what’s going on inside their minds. But modern neuroscience allows us to do exactly that. My team’s new study shows how different parts of an expert golfer’s brains are activated when they putt their ball into the hole.
Putting is a crucial part of golf. Using their putter when the ball is on (or just off) the green, golfers gently roll their ball towards the hole. Good putting distinguishes the most successful players in any tournament, as it can make up 40-50% of the total number of strokes on each round (on average, around 1.8 putts per hole). Winning a tournament can often come down to holing a final, dramatic putt.
