Article Data

  • Views 964
  • Dowloads 150

Original Research

Open Access Special Issue

The re-organization of action in golf putting under different task constraints

  • Micael Couceiro1,2,3
  • Gonçalo Dias3,4,5,*,
  • Duarte Araújo6
  • Keith Davids7
  • José Gama3
  • Rui Mendes3,4,5
  • Fernando Martins4,5,8
  • Vasco Vaz3

1Ingeniarius, Ltd., 4445-147 Alfena, Portugal

2Institute of Systems and Robotics (ISR), University of Coimbra (FCTUC), 3030-194 Coimbra, Portugal

3Research Unit for Sport and Physical Activity (CIDAF), University of Coimbra, 3004-531 Coimbra, Portugal

4Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra, ESEC, UNICID-ASSERT, 3030-329 Coimbra, Portugal

5Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra, IIA, ROBOCORP, 3030-329 Coimbra, Portugal

6Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Human Performance (CIPER), Faculty of Human Kinetics, Spertlab, University of Lisbon,1649-004 Lisbon, Portugal

7Sport & Human Performance Research Group, Sheffield Hallam University, S1 1WB Sheffield, UK

8 Instituto de Telecomunicações (IT), 6200-151 Covilhã, Portugal

DOI: 10.31083/j.jomh1801026 Vol.18,Issue 1,January 2022 pp.1-11

Submitted: 06 October 2021 Accepted: 18 November 2021

Published: 31 January 2022

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sports Biomechanics for Health and Performance)

*Corresponding Author(s): Gonçalo Dias E-mail: goncalodias@fcdef.uc.pt

Abstract

Background: The behaviours of golfers could be interpreted as emergent, resulting from the cyclical relations of perception-action cou-plings established under the interacting constraints of competitive performance environments. Underpinned by an ecological dynamics approach, the aim of this study was to investigate how a simple adaptation of task constraints constrained the (re)organization of putting actions in skilled golfers. Methods: Ten skilled golfers, male and right-handed (42.6 ± 14.4 years old) (average handicap of 2.3 ± 1.7) were investigated when putting at different distances from the hole. Results: Our results have revealed how the coupling of perception and action captures the mutual relationship that emerges between a performance environment and each golfer’s abilities, during task performance. In this sense, the manipulation of distance constraints selectively constrained movement organization variables in specific ways. As distance to the hole increased, there was a clear increment in backswing, downswing and follow-through amplitude, speed of putter impact on the ball and maximum acceleration of the putting movement. Moreover, heart rate (HR) decreased with distance to the hole, which may have indicated that a golfer was adapting to increasing distance constraints, or that a greater distance from the hole may require a greater attentional focus. Conclusions: Underpinned by an ecological dynamics approach, these and other findings in our study suggested some regularities in the behaviour of golfers when environmental constraints (e.g., distance) are manipulated. Thus, golfers’ behaviours can be interpreted as an emergent process resulting from the perception-action coupling relations established during practice and performance.

Keywords

Ecological dynamics; Perception and action; Affordances; Golf putting performance; Motor control; Biomechanics

Cite and Share

Micael Couceiro,Gonçalo Dias,Duarte Araújo,Keith Davids,José Gama,Rui Mendes,Fernando Martins,Vasco Vaz. The re-organization of action in golf putting under different task constraints. Journal of Men's Health. 2022. 18(1);1-11.

References

[1] Araújo D, Davids K, Diniz A, Rocha L, Santos JC, Dias G, et al. Ecological dynamics of continuous and categorical decision-making: the regatta start in sailing. European Journal of Sport Science. 2014; 15: 195–202.

[2] Newell KM. Constraints on the Development of Coordination. Motor Development in Children: Aspects of Coordination and Control. 1986; 72: 341–360.

[3] Davids K. Athletes and sports teams as complex adaptive sys-tem: A review of implications for learning design. RICYDE. Revista internacional de ciencias del deporte. 2014; 11: 48–61.(In Spain)

[4] Gibson J. The ecological approach to visual perception. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates: Hillsdale, New Jersey. 1979.

[5] Davids K, Button C, Bennett S. Dynamics of Skill acquisition. A constraints-led approach. Champaign, Illinois: Human Kinetics. 2008.

[6] Fajen BR, Riley MA, Turvey MT. Information, affordances, and the control of action in sport. International Journal Sport of Psy-chology. 2008; 40: 79–107.

[7] Withagen R, de Poel HJ, Araújo D, Pepping G. Affordances can invite behavior: Reconsidering the relationship between affor-dances and agency. New Ideas in Psychology. 2012; 30: 250–258.

[8] Warren W. The dynamics of perception and action. Psychologi-cal Review. 2006; 113: 358–389.

[9] Riley MA, Fajen BR, Turvey MT. Reply to commentaries on “Information, affordances, and the control of action in sport.” International Journal of Sports Psychology. 2009; 40: 207–218.

[10] Dias G, Couceiro MS, Barreiros J, Clemente FM, Mendes R, Martins FML. Distance and Slope Constraints: Adaptation and Variability in Golf Putting. Motor Control. 2014; 18: 221–243.

[11] Pelz D. Putting bible: the complete guide to mastering the green. Publication Doubleday: New York. 2000.

[12] Dias G, Couceiro MS. Golf Putting. The Science of Golf Putting. 2015; 6: 7–17.

[13] Lagos L, Vaschillo E, Vaschillo B, Lehrer P, Bates M, Pandina R. Heart rate variability biofeedback for dealing with competitive anxiety: A Case Study. Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeed-back. 2008; 36: 109.

[14] Jenkins S. Can Elite Tournament Professional Golfers Prevent Habitual Actions in their Putting Actions? International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching. 2008; 3: 117–127.

[15] Lee MCY, Chow JY, Komar J, Tan CWK, Button C. Nonlin-ear Pedagogy: An Effective Approach to Cater for Individual Differences in Learning a Sports Skill. PLoS ONE. 2014; 9: e104744.

[16] Couceiro MS, Dias G, Mendes R, Araújo D. Accuracy of Pattern Detection Methods in the Performance of Golf Putting. Journal of Motor Behavior. 2013; 45: 37–53.

[17] Greenwood D, Davids K, Renshaw I. Experiential knowledge of expert coaches can help identify informational constraints on performance of dynamic interceptive actions. Journal of Sports Sciences. 2014; 32: 328–335.

[18] Travassos B, Davids K, Araújo D, Esteves TP. Performance analysis in team sports: Advances from an Ecological Dynam-ics approach. International Journal of Performance Analysis in Sport. 2013; 13: 83–95.

[19] Araújo D, Davids K, Passos P. Ecological Validity, Represen-tative Design and Correspondence between Experimental Task Constraints and Behavioral Settings. Ecological Psychology. 2007; 19: 69–78.

[20] Couceiro MS, Dias G, Araújo A, Pereira S. InPutter: concept and evaluation of an engineered golf putter. South African Journal for Research in Sport, Physical Education and Recreation. 2015; 37: 43–54.

[21] Hume PA, Keogh J, Reid D. The Role of Biomechanics in Max-imising Distance and Accuracy of Golf Shots. Sports Medicine. 2005; 35: 429–449.

[22] Couceiro MS, Clemente FM, Dias G, Mendes P, Martins F, Mendes P. On an Entropy-based Performance Analysis in Sports. Proceedings International Electronic Conference on En-tropy and its Applications (pp. 1–20). United States: Pittsburgh. 2014.

[23] Dias G, Couceiro M, Clemente F, Martins F, Mendes R. A new approach for the study of golf putting. South African Journal for Research in Sport, Physical Education and Recreation. 2014; 36: 61–77.

[24] Pincus SM, Gladstone IM, Ehrenkranz RA. A regularity statistic for medical data analysis. Journal of Clinical Monitoring. 1991; 7: 335–345.

[25] Takens F. Invariants related to dimension and entropy. In Actas of 13th Colóqio Brasileiro de Matematicas. Rio de Janeiro: Brazil. 1983.

[26] Delay D, Nougier V, Orliaguet J, Coello Y. Movement control in golf putting. Human Movement Science. 1997; 16: 597–619.

[27] Coello Y, Delay D, Nougier V, Orliaguet JP. Temporal control of impact movement: The “time from departure” control hypoth-esis in golf putting. International Journal of Sport Psychology. 2000; 31: 24–46.

[28] Karlsen J. Golf Putting: An analysis of elite-players technique and performance [Master thesis]. The Norwegian University of Sport and Physical Education, Oslo, Norway. 2003.

[29] Seifert L, Button C, Davids K. Key Properties of Expert Move-ment Systems in Sport. Sports Medicine. 2013; 43: 167–178.

[30] Passos P, Araújo D, Volossovitch A. Performance analysis in team sports. 1st edn. Routledge: London. 2017.

[31] Van Lier WH, Van der Kamp J, Savelsbergh GJP. Perception and Action in Golf Putting: Skill Differences Reflect Calibration. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology. 2011; 33: 349–369.

[32] Davids K, Araújo D, Vilar L, Renshaw I, Pinder R. An Ecolog-ical Dynamics Approach to Skill Acquisition: Implications for Development of Talent in Sport. Talent Development and Excel-lence. 2013; 5: 21–34.

[33] Frank C, Land WM, Schack T. Perceptual-cognitive changes during motor learning: The influence of mental and physical practice on mental representation, gaze behavior, and perfor-mance of a complex action. Frontiers in Psychology. 2016; 6: 1981.

[34] Scalise F, Margonato D, Frigerio A, Zappa R, Romano R, Beretta E. Heart rate variability, postural sway and electroder-mal activitry in competitive golf putting. The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness. 2021; 61: 1027–1032.

[35] Richman JS, Moorman JR. Physiological time-series analysis using approximate entropy and sample entropy. American Jour-nal of Physiology-Heart and Circulatory Physiology. 2000; 278: H2039–H2049.

[36] Kuznetsov N, Bonnette S, Riley MA. Nonlinear time series methods for analysing behavioural sequences. In K Davids, R Hristovski, D Araújo, N Balague Serre, C Button, P Passos (eds.) Complex Systems in Sport (pp. 346). 1st edn. Routledge: New York. 2014.

Abstracted / indexed in

Science Citation Index Expanded (SciSearch) Created as SCI in 1964, Science Citation Index Expanded now indexes over 9,200 of the world’s most impactful journals across 178 scientific disciplines. More than 53 million records and 1.18 billion cited references date back from 1900 to present.

Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition aims to evaluate a journal’s value from multiple perspectives including the journal impact factor, descriptive data about a journal’s open access content as well as contributing authors, and provide readers a transparent and publisher-neutral data & statistics information about the journal.

Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) DOAJ is a unique and extensive index of diverse open access journals from around the world, driven by a growing community, committed to ensuring quality content is freely available online for everyone.

SCImago The SCImago Journal & Country Rank is a publicly available portal that includes the journals and country scientific indicators developed from the information contained in the Scopus® database (Elsevier B.V.)

Publication Forum - JUFO (Federation of Finnish Learned Societies) Publication Forum is a classification of publication channels created by the Finnish scientific community to support the quality assessment of academic research.

Scopus: CiteScore 0.9 (2023) Scopus is Elsevier's abstract and citation database launched in 2004. Scopus covers nearly 36,377 titles (22,794 active titles and 13,583 Inactive titles) from approximately 11,678 publishers, of which 34,346 are peer-reviewed journals in top-level subject fields: life sciences, social sciences, physical sciences and health sciences.

Norwegian Register for Scientific Journals, Series and Publishers Search for publication channels (journals, series and publishers) in the Norwegian Register for Scientific Journals, Series and Publishers to see if they are considered as scientific. (https://kanalregister.hkdir.no/publiseringskanaler/Forside).

Submission Turnaround Time

Conferences

Top