Expertise and position of line of sight in golf putting

The purpose of this study was to clarify golfers' scanning patterns while putting through direct measurement of their eye movements. Each of the 17 subjects (3 experts, 3 intermediates, 11 beginners) performed 10 consecutive putts on a practice mat, from a position 2 m from the hole. The analysis of their eye-movements indicated differences among these groups. The intermediates and beginners had longer fixation durations on the ball than the experts. The beginners exhibited a range of behaviors among the trials, some of which did not include any fixations on the ball. Experts held their eyes steady but did not fixate on the ball. These results suggested that experts may have relied on a mental image of the ball; in contrast, the intermediates and some of the beginners relied on visual data.