Using your eyes and ears

The eyes have it: Harrington has the 'quiet eyes' needed by great putters.

'One often finds that a good billiard player makes a good golfer because he has such a full appreciation of the different effects upon a little white ball according to the precise manner in which it is struck. And the superior training of his eye stands him in very good stead on the putting greens. James Braid, 'How to Play Golf,' 1901.

WHILE MANY GOLF SAGES will tell you that golf is ten per cent physical and 90 per-cent mental - our eyes and ears, behind which our mental faculties lurk, are vastly underrated.

Dozens of top golfers - including Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh and Laura Davies did not have eye surgery merely to see where their ball was heading - they needed it to retain their natural senses at the highest level, while Tony Jacklin began losing his golfing powers as soon as his hearing started to deteriorate.

I heard this week that World No.2 Phil Mickelson switched from a softer Callaway golf ball to a harder one because it made slightly more noise when struck by his putter. He needed to hear as well as feel his putts

Golf research scientist Dr Mark Guadagnolli claims: " Our eyes and ears are completely overlooked. How to utilize the senses for performance and learning are severely undervalued.”

Colin Montgomerie - tends to be distracted

Dr Guadagnolli told the New York Times: “It's part of the subtleties of golf and most sports. We use a range of acquired skills to play these games, including some we don't even realise. If you put earplugs in really good tennis players, it totally messes them up. They rely on their ears to know where the ball is going to be.”

Similarly if suffering from an ear infection golfers are invariably put off balance and their ball striking and finess shots deteriorate.

Another researcher Joan Vickers discovered several years ago that the best putters had what she termed “quiet eyes.” - players who kept their eyes absolutely still for a few seconds before and after striking a putt. Less accomplished putters moved their eyes rapidly, darting from target to ball and other places on the green.

Woods and Padraig Harrington have quiet eyes and both have the ability to surround themselves in a bubble of concentration when putting.

“A quieter eye also quiets the brain,” commented Guadagnolli. “You can teach someone fairly quickly a technique to quiet their eyes - by focussing on a spot behind the ball, instead of the ball itself. This eliminates 'sensory intrusions' from the task at hand.

Research has also shown that when most putters focus on the ball, the brain instinctively wants to track the ball after which instantly lifts the head. Focusing on a spot behind the ball makes the brain, and eyes, less likely to follow the ball.

Colin Montgomerie was one of those who earlier this year at The Wales Open tried looking at the hole while putting because some studies have found that putters who stare at the hole perform better. Unfortunately Monty's accute hearing tended to over-ride the benefits he might have had if he concentrated more on his golf and less on the gallery.

Dr Guadagnoli also believes we can come too reliant on our eyes and by closing them after addressing the ball on the range, we'll be surprised how much it will tell us about our shot and our swing.

"Try listening to the sound at contact and judging the shot by what you feel happened," he suggests.

Many of us already feel we might be better off playing golf with our eyes closed or with our fingers in our ears. At least then we'd have a better excuse than plain bad luck.

Tell us on the forum if you have routines that work using your eyes and ears - or not, as the case may be!