Make the Hole Look Huge
November 30, 2015
In the 1992 NBA Finals, Michael Jordan drilled 6 three pointers and put up 35 in the first half. After burying the last last three with 1.24 left in the second quarter, Jordan turned toward the scorers table and shrugged his shoulders a now iconic gesture and said I can’t believe it my self.
In the post game press conference he stated the basket looked as big as a bathtub.You hear comments like Jordan’s all the time in Pro Sports from the pro baseball player who says the baseball looked more like a softball or Tiger who said the hole looked very big today. or the fairway looked wide enough to land a 747 on it today.Scientists have a name for such imagery positive contagion. Numerous studies indicate that picturing the target as larger than it really is can boost performance. Negative contagions like I can’t make anything today has the opposite effect. SIZE or in this case perceived size matters. More importantly science has proven that you do not have to wait for the once in a blue moon round to start pouring them in. You can train your brain to see a bigger hole on every green. J.K Witt, PHD associate professor of psychology at Colorado State University, preformed a study in which she mounted a projector in the celling above a indoor putting green. The projector alternately beamed two circles on top of a regulation -sized cup one circle was larger than the standard 4.25 while the other was smaller. Subjects who putted when the circle was larger simply made more putts than when the professor made the cup smaller. Professor Witt stated we knew the way people perceived the environment affects there ability to act on it and now we know that a bigger target leads to improved performance. Simply put unlike what you may think when you practice at a big hole you make more putts. Yes you can and should focus on a point of entry to a big hole but the bigger hole will free you up to make more putts.
Ben Crenshaw said the are 7 different ways a ball can go in the hole. I am in the development stage of a system that will greatly enhance your practice to a big hole. Its called the One Putt Putting System.