THE USE OF SELF-MODELING TO IMPROVE MOTOR PERFORMANCE (GOLF)

The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of self-modeling and modeling procedures on golf putting performance. Subjects were 47 adult male golfers enrolled in the San Diego Golf Academy which prepares students for careers in professional golf. It was hypothesized that the treatment groups would putt significantly better than the attention-control group. It was further predicted that the self-modeling groups' performance would be significantly superior to that of the modeling group. To test these hypotheses, a putting tournament was created with twelve cash prizes. Subjects attempted to make 18 putts from 7 feet once per week on four successive Wednesdays. Results indicated that the treatment groups missed significantly fewer putts than the control group. There was no significant difference between the self-modeling and modeling group. Subjects in the self-modeling group achieved significantly greater peak scores (i.e. an individual's highest number of putts made on any one of the four weekly putting sessions) than the control group. The self-modeling group won significantly more cash prizes than the other two groups. Based upon these results, it was suggested that the self-modeling procedure may facilitate optimal performance and becomes more effective under performance situations with a considerable amount of mental pressure.