The perceptual skill of green reading is the ability to judge the slope of a
golf green and roll the ball into the hole. Requiring a unique combination of
perceptual judgement, kinaesthetic imagery and biomechanical accuracy, putting
accounts for about 40% of the shots played in a typical round (Gwyn & Patch,
1993) and is the key to shooting low scores in golf (Alexander & Kern,
2005). Surprisingly, few studies have investigated the two key prerequisites of
effective putting - namely, the ability to "read" greens (i.e., to judge the
slope of the putting surface) and the ability to coordinate eye-movements with
motor control (visuomotor control; see work of Campbell, 2006 Unpublished PhD
thesis UCD; Campbell & Moran, 2005 11th Congres International de l'ACAPS,
26-28 October 2005 Paris. In N. Bengiugui, P. Fontayne, M. Desbordes, & B.
Bardy (EDS). Researches Actuelles En Sciences Du Sport, 347-348, EDP Sciences;
Vine, Moore & Wilson, 2011). Using dynamic action based research, (field
based research using a portable Tobii eye-tracker) we will examine what
perceptual information golfers use in judging slope in a series of
psychophysical eye-tracking studies. Participants will be elite golfers of
varying levels of expertise and there will be a performance measure included
(putts holed successfully). Results from two outdoor eye-tracking field studies
will be presented and implications will be discussed, namely the possibility of
extending the concept of "Quiet Eye" (Vickers, 2007).