*Image credit: iStock.com/Сергей Хакимуллин

Have you ever wondered what makes a great putter? Perhaps you’ve played golf with someone who drains everything they look at while you struggle to drain those pesky three footers for par (or birdie).

Spending hours reading greens and hitting putts will no doubt help you become a better putter, but with new research experts are starting get a better idea of what separates people with good precision skills from the bad. It all comes down to a concept called “Quiet Eye”. It’s a new way of understanding how individuals perform precise tasks like threading a needle, shooting a free throw, or even flying a plane. In simple terms: “Quiet Eye” is what you focus your eye on before you start your actions.

In the past, researchers who have studied coordination would have us believe that people who have the ability to effectively perform very precise tasks are gifted with superior physical dexterity. That is not the case any more as new eye tracking technology helps us better understand this. Despite what has been believed in the past, the eye tracking technology has proved that locking your stare on to something before and after the task greatly improves your chances for success.

“When your eyes provide the data, your motor system just knows what to do,” says Joan Vickers, a cognitive psychologist at the University of Calgary and one of the originators of the quiet-eye theory. “Your brain is like a GPS system. It detects target, speed, intensity, and distance.”

As obvious as this may be, researchers have only recently been able to understand the benefit of intense visual focus. If you’re looking to become a better putter using the “Quiet Eye” concept, the news may not be what you want to hear.

“People often think they’re looking somewhere, and they’re wrong,” says the University of Exeter psychologist Sam Vine. “Doing this right is not as easy as it may seem.”

Relax, because the good news is…This skill can be learned by anyone who is motivated to learn a series of “Quiet Eye” exercises. So with this new information, maybe a new putting practice routine could include some “Quiet Eye” exercises followed by sinking those pesky three footers.

To learn more about this study you can read it in more detail HERE.