The Human Brain and Golf : Perfect Movement Hampered by the Flexible Nervous System

We knew it all along.
The answer to why we still lag a few golf strokes behind Tiger Woods.
It's the brain.

The January 17, 2007 Stanford Report points to a Stanford study which indicates that our golf swing and golf score will never be perfect, because "movement is not primarily a mechanical phenomenon".

David Orenstein gives us this explanation:

"For athletes, the inability to replicate the perfect movement might seem to be a frustrating problem that needs to be solved. But ....

[as we are told by the authors of the study]
"The nervous system was not designed to do the same thing over and over again.... The nervous system was designed to be flexible...."

The value of practice and training is that they can reduce the variation in the mind's abilities, but they don't change the variable way the mind plans motion. An analogy might be to doing math problems. Someone who has studied will find it easier to solve a new problem than someone who has not prepared."

Now, when they can tell me how to get the mind to keep from guiding that ball out of bounds, i.e. to simply eliminate that as a potential "motion variable", we will have something serious to talk about.

Europe Leads 2006 Ryder Cup as USA Stumbles

Tim Dahlberg, AP Sports Columnist, in his
September 23, 2006 Yahoo! Sports article
Lehman stays pat with his team, but at what price?
hits the nail right on the head in identifying some of the problems that plague the US Ryder Cup team, which trails 10-6 going into the singles matches.

European retention of the Ryder Cup appears imminent.

Tiger Woods is Getting Better

Mike Vitti, PGATOUR.com ShotLink Analyst, has compared Tiger Woods' current win streak of five tournaments with his win streak of six tournaments in 1999-2000 and the results are not encouraging to his professional competitors.

The comparison of the two win streaks shows clearly that Woods has improved in nearly every category of comparison except for driving accuracy and greens in regulation.

The reduced driving accuracy of about 9% (i.e. about one drive in 10) has to be counterbalanced against the increased average distance of Woods' drives of 25 yards - an amazing number for someone who always was a big hitter to begin with.

The statistics for greens in regulation can be misleading since pin placements are often near the edge of greens, so that if you are going for the flag, you are more likely to also leave balls on the fringe - but closer to the hole - than if you merely play for the middle of the green, where you may hit the green in regulation, but where birdies may be less likely due to the long putts that have to be made from positions more easily reachable by approach shots.

The truly impressive figures are the percentages for par breakers and for bogeys or worse. Woods has increased his par breakers to 30% (5.4 every 18 holes) and has reduced his bogey or worse percentage to a mere 7.5% (1.35 bogeys or worse per round). Obviously, Woods is getting better at playing more error-free golf while at the same time increasing his under par percentage.

It looks like the competition will have to get to work to try to keep up with Tiger. The face of golf has changed and it is demanding more perfection and accuracy than ever before. Professional golf has become a sport for craftsmen.

The 2006 PGA Championship - Leaderboard

Here in Germany we are following the
2006 PGA Championship leaderboard online today and listening to their streaming broadcast "Pipeline" (as powered by CNN) which is following Phil Mickelson and Ian Poulter around the Medinah golf course on their final round. Great stuff and a sign of things to come in entertainment presentation.

Personal and Group Golf Statistics

Leaderboard.com by StatMasters is known for providing personal and group golf statistics. The website also answers all manner of questions about golf and has features such as a swingweight calculator.

Various articles explain important and often lesser-known aspects of the game to players, e.g. a superb and understandable explanation of course slopes and course ratings.

Other articles are found e.g. on topics such as:

The Origins Of Golf
Traditional Club Names
Club Lofts & Distances
Using Handicaps In Competition

and more.

These are definitely useful pages for any golfer.
The website also offers golf handicap services.

Professional Clubmakers and Clubmaking Design

Tom Wishon Golf Technology is a leader in clubmaking design for individuals and professionals and also has a clickable map of the USA for locating professional clubmakers by US region as well as links to professional clubmakers worldwide.

Professional clubmakers can also be located through the Professional Clubmakers' Society.

Custom Clubs from GigaGolf

We have had good success with orders of custom clubs made by GigaGolf.com, a Florida company which offers excellent quality custom-made clubs at rock bottom prices. Select almost all important parameters online to order the set of clubs suited to you, e.g. type and brand of grip, size of grip, type, length and brand of shaft (very important - the shaft is the heart of the club), stiffness of shaft, and type of clubhead - it is also possible to compare clubheads to known golf brand name clubs. There are more parameters that can be set - take a look.