Bo Van Pelt celebrates his hole-in-one during the final round of the Masters on April 8. New research suggests that golfers may be able to improve their games by believing the hole they're aiming for is larger than it really is.
Andrew Redington/Getty Images
22 comments:
Wow! This is so cool. I find it so interesting especially because I play golf, that if I imagine the hole to be bigger there will be a greater chance of it going in. I wonder why the golfers that did better thought that the hole was bigger. I think the study that she did was so cool, that she made the hole look bigger, and the putts were made more often. I have to try this technique more often!
This was a really interesting article/podcast. I play golf, so this really interested me. That was a cool study and I like how she used optical illusions to make the holes seem bigger or smaller. I also agree with Tim Woodman, who said that if you have too much confidence, you will slack off and won't try you're hardest. If you doubt yourself just a little bit, you will try even harder to try to beat that doubt and you will do better because you are trying harder.
I thought that was really interesting. I agree with Jason in that Tim Woodman had a good point about confidence. I thought the photo on the side was amazing showing the Ebbinghaus theory. I couldn't believe that they were the same size! They looked so different to me. Mr. Ebbinghaus was so smart!
I play golf, like Jason, but have never applied this trick. However, I did realize that the optical allusion with the circles was the same size. I also can't believe that people can use this trick for hole in ones. That info is false because you can't see the hole when you hit the ball off of the tee. I will definitely try to apply this trick in the future.
To Ben: I don't play golf but, maybe you cant see the hole on the first hit, but on the second or third I think you can. I wonder if this would work for basketball. I need any help i can get on basket ball. Maybe on the back board they could put tiny little circles to make the net seem bigger. I have seen the Ebbinghaus theory before but I never thought so deeply about it. I just thought it was a cool optical illusion.
I thought that this was really cool. Tim Willman was right: the athletes also need confidence. It is also true that professional athletes also need to find the perfect balance (for them) between doubting themselves and having tons of confidence. This was really interesting.
The optical illusion was not a trick for me since I read the article. I would think that if the hole looked bigger you might hit wider and still miss, at least that is what I think as a player of golf. I suppose in P.E. if a person does not like running hills, they could imagine the hill is not as steep, that is what my mom does. :) For me, whether I am good or bad at something I always try my best, that is my personality. I don't think the illusion would help me, I don't need it. However, I may find it useful one day in the right circumstances but at this moment I can't imagine what it would be.
This was a very interesting article. Originally, I wouldn't have linked a bigger hole to confidence, but now it makes perfect sense. I wonder how Jessica Witt came up with the idea of comparing the size of the hole to the performance of the athlete. Did she just randomly say, "Hmm... I wonder if the size of the hole has any correlation with the performance of the golfer." This article shows just how important confidence can be, as long as you don't have too much of it. Confidence is a good example of something that is good, but too much of it is bad.
This is a very cool article. I am a big fan of optical illusions. This is really interesting and cool. I didn't think that someone could be better at putting in golf by thinking that the hole is larger. It seems like you would actually miss more if you thought it was bigger. Because you might put to far to the right because you think that the hole is bigger. This Ebbinghaus person made this great illusion. I think that it could be a revolutionary skill for all golfers. Though don't get to confident, because you still might not win.
Wow, so if you believe that you might NOT win, then you'll do better. That is really weird. So if the course looks super hard, but it is actually easy, it will be easier than if an easy course looks as easy as it is? That's messing with my brain.
That is amazing! I didn't know that something like how big the hole in golf appears would change your score! That shows the power of positive thinking. Also, I saw the optical illusion, and I thought it was cool how the holes looked like totally different sizes while they were actually the same.
This was an interesting study although I don't believe that it is true. I play golf at Mountain gate and when I applied this "trick", it had no effect. I think that it was either luck or confidence that helps. I don't think that Jason made sense in the last 2 sentences of his post. Not only is self-confidence only good in golf, but it is good in other sports too. These are websites that say that self-confidence is the key:
http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/sports-psychology-self-confidence-in-sport-make-your-ego-work-for-you-39657
http://www.brianmac.co.uk/psych.htm
http://www.easypars.com/confidence-in-golf/
http://www.webgolfer.com/show00/mental_golf.html
I think that the point I am trying to show is proven by now.
I think that this is a really interesting topic. It gives you something to think about. I mean, if there was the illusion that the hole was bigger, couldn't they just try to get it in the part of the "hole" that wasn't actually there? I didn't really understand that part. This could be very important to future strategies for golf players. I'm talking to you, Cypress. If this is a new study that actually can increase your chances of making a hole-in-one, then all golfers should try this! I wonder if it would work with other sports, too, such as basketball. If you imagine that the hoop is bigger than it is, will you make it in? I wonder...
I found this very interesting. I like how they made the illusions and the hole look bigger then it really looks. I don't usually pay attention to illusions, so I don't think this illusion would help me if I tried playing golf like this.
This is so cool! It makes sense that when the hole appears bigger, you have a better chance of getting it in the hole. However, I also understand how if you are too confident it can cause you to slack off and miss because you think you are going to make it. I wonder if this same technique could be used to improve other skills like basketball and soccer.
This was a really cool article. I never knew that you could use optical illusions for sports. This could mean that some golfers do better than others depending on the hole. Like Jason, Cami, and Amanda said, confidence is really important, but you do not want to be overly confident. This shows that you can beat anything with confidence.
Wow! I never knew optical illusions could be used strategically like that! I always thought that optical illusions were just for fun, but I guess I was wrong. I wonder if you can use that trick in other sports, like maybe hockey. If you imagine the goal is bigger, would you be able to score easier?
I really liked this article. I also play a little golf, so this article caught my eye. I agree with Tim Woodman, because when I do hill runs in P.E. sometimes I do it slower and when I am more determined and challenged, I do them faster. I had seen that optical illusion first in a book and I thought it was really cool! As Jameson said, I wonder if you could apply that trick in other sports! Maybe in basketball, the hoop would seem bigger, or in baseball the field would seem shorter, so you could hit a home run easier. The next time I am on the green, I will try to imagine the hole bigger!
This is very cool. I get how you can believe that something can be bigger, like a golf hole. It is cool that this will improve your aim as well.
This is really interesting. I think that the optical illusion of the hole being bigger is a really cool concept. I know confidence helps me when I play sports, so it's not a big surprise that it would help other athletes in other sports too. For example, once I was at a Mirman football game playing center, and I hiked the ball to our quarterback in shotgun formation (shotgun is when the quarterback is standing farther back than usual). I flicked my hand wrong and the ball fell to the ground. I doubted myself a lot on the next snap, and I did it again. However, since we run shotgun on most of our plays. The next play, I regained my confidence, and I didn't have another failed snap for that game, or for most of the season after that. In conclusion, confidence really does help an athlete.
This is really interesting. I think that the optical illusion of the hole being bigger is a really cool concept. I know confidence helps me when I play sports, so it's not a big surprise that it would help other athletes in other sports too. For example, once I was at a Mirman football game playing center, and I hiked the ball to our quarterback in shotgun formation (shotgun is when the quarterback is standing farther back than usual). I flicked my hand wrong and the ball fell to the ground. I doubted myself a lot on the next snap, and I did it again. However, since we run shotgun on most of our plays. The next play, I regained my confidence, and I didn't have another failed snap for that game, or for most of the season after that. In conclusion, confidence really does help an athlete.
Wow, but I think that they really should make the holes bigger because golf is a hard, hard sport (for me at least).
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