To date, there has
been a dearth of research examining characteristics of expert performance in
able and disabled golfers. With golf becoming an olympic sport and probable
future paralympic sport there needs to be an exploration of the characteristics
of expert performance and crucially, whether there are noticeable skill differences
between able and disabled golfers. To study these characteristics and skills,
the eye-movements and kinematic parameters of golfers were recorded as they executed
a series of putts from 6 and 12 feet. Participants (N=43) included golfers of
three levels of expertise - expert (n=16), skilled (n=18), and non-expert (n=9) of which thirty
were able and thirteen disabled. Our
results suggest that there were notable and distinctive perceptual-cognitive
expertise differences and kinematic performance differences. Theoretical
implications of these results are discussed particularly in relation to the
application of visual attention theory to practice and suggestions provided for
further research particularly relating to motor cognition and pre-performance
routines.