"I never knew what I did putting," Rodriguez said. "I just knew that there was a hole, there was a ball, there was a putter, I was supposed to knock the ball in the hole. (But then) a magazine paid me $50 to figure out what I did putting, and I haven't putted good since."
Ah, yes: Overthinking. Analysis paralysis.
Ralph Guldahl was a 16-time winner and 3-time major champion in the 1930s, on his way, perhaps, to being an all-time great, when his game deserted him. What happened? One theory is that when Guldahl, a feel player, wrote an instructional book, he overthought his swing and could never get back that <i>feel</i>. Analysis paralysis.
This sort of thing doesn't happen to great players all that often. But it's much more likely to happen to the rest of us. We overthink every little detail and wind up tying ourselves in knots. Our games suffer.
And it turns out that the "analysis paralysis" phenomenon has been studied by a group of American scientests and St. Andrews University scholars. And their finding is that golfers are definitely susceptible to thinking too much.
The BBC reported the findings thusly:
Golfers who think too much about their technique between shots could be seriously affecting their performance, a study has suggested.St Andrews University and US scientists said they had established that too much analysis made the golfer's game worse.
They said thinking too much about the previous shot can disrupt performance.
In total, 80 golfers were given shots to practise until they got it right. Those who discussed their putting between strokes took twice as long.
The study found that when the mix of skilled and novice golfers tried again, those who had discussed the shot took longer to get the shots right as those people who had spent a couple of minutes engaged in other, unrelated activities.
St. Andrews University phychology professor Michael Anderson told the BBC that the effect was particularly dramatic in skilled golfers who spent five minutes discussing their putting technique, before attempting to putt again. Those skilled golfers were "reduced to the level of performance of novices," Anderson said, after the self-analysis of their putting technique.
The effect wasn't seen in novices, probably because beginners don't have much room to get worse. So beginners: Analyze away.
Intermediate and advanced golfers, however, may want to save the analysis for practice sessions while during play trying to keep in-depth analysis at bay.
What effect might be at work in "analysis paralysis" for golfers? The BBC report states:
The researchers think the loss of performance was due to an effect called verbal overshadowing, which makes the brain focus more on language centres rather than on brain systems that support the skills in question.The study, which also involved the University of Michigan, marks the first time researchers have claimed to demonstrate that verbal overshadowing can adversely affect motor skills.
On the Web
• Read the BBC report on "analysis paralysis" study
