While this pithy aside may have been taken as an astute observation about the fragile mental state of the golfer when they face a tricky putt to see out a tournament victory, it has taken until now to realise that it is scientifically possible to show you that Bobby Jones was correct.
Even if he didn’t actually understand just how insightful his assertion was at the time.
Introducing science into the art of putting
Until very recently, golfers were told that successful putting was about judging the line and speed of the ball. Indubitably, that is most certainly the case.
What was not well understood however, was the mental processes that a golfer goes through when selecting the line and pace to strike a putt.
This is where MLA putters are different. Realising that there was no real scientific study of how a golfer selects the right line and pace to hit a putt, MLA began by asking, how do humans perceive a putt.
Enlisting the help of eminent perceptual processes expert Dr. Lennard Högman, MLA started to look at how the brain processes information when standing over a putt.
The studies revealed that the brain consists of around 100,000 line detectors. These are sub-divided into groups and when viewing a putt, these detectors will fire if they perceive the putt as being on the right line.
The problem is that for tricky putts, several groups of detectors can fire all at once. This causes confusion as to which line and pace to hit the ball. The net result of this is usually a missed putt.
MLA realised that if there was a way to filter out competing line detectors in the brain, this would allow for more accurate putting.
Dr. Högman realised that between his expertise in the field and MLA’s studies, they had hit upon a potential solution:
The Multiple Line-detector Activation (MLA) solution
The solution is simple yet stunning, MLA’s system is used across its full range of putters and works by ‘quietening’ competing line detectors in the brain, while focusing on activating the optimal number of detectors needed to hit more putts at the right pace and along the right line.
The upshot of this is that golfers can be sure that when they stand over a putt using an MLA putter, the information they are receiving about the putt from their brain regarding line and length is likely to be more accurate than it could be with a standard putter.
The upshot of this being, the more accurate the information processed by the brain then the more holed putts for the typical golfer.
Bobby Jones was correct; the green can and does affect how a player putts. It has just taken the golfing community until now to realise just how true that statement is.
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