Background/Purpose: Golf has become one of the popular elective physical education courses recently in colleges in Taiwan. The golf instruction methods have not been well-tested. Pre-shot routine helps golfers to develop consistent golf shot from woods, irons, and putter. Consistent putting techniques contribute great importance to lowering golf score. The purpose of this study aimed to investigate the effect of pre-shot routine on putting accuracy and consistency among college age beginners.
Method: Ten golf elective courses in Northern Taiwan Institute of Science and Technology including 462 students were randomly assigned into 6-week experimental (N=235) or control groups (N=227). Over 95% of the students were first time golfer and never received any putting instruction. Experimental group received basic putting skill instruction and 5-step putting routine development while control group only received the putting skill instruction. The 5-setp putting routine includes read the green, set intended line, check stance, practice strokes, and gaze on contact point. All participants needed to take pre-test and post-test of putting accuracy evaluation which includes 10 putts from 3 meters, 5 meters, and 7 meters.
Analysis/Results: Data were analyzed by SPSS 17.0 using independent-samples t test, paired-samples t test, and Pearson's correlation. Results showed both groups improved their putting scores significantly from all distances (Experimental: M= 30.65, SD = 9.83, t = 18.18, p <.001; Control: M= 13.29, SD = 6.49, t = 11.94, p <.001). Experimental group scored significantly higher than control group in post-test (t =5.09, p <.001). No significant differences showed among 3 different putting distance in pre-test and post-test. No gender difference showed in the pre-test; however, female students performed significantly better than male students in post-test. Experimental group did not obtain significantly different score among each putt in post-test while control group obtained significantly different score in both tests. Scores from both group in 3 distances indicated high correlations.
Conclusions: Putting pre-shot routine helps beginners improving their putting accuracy and consistency. Developing pre-shot routine can be a great asset for golf beginners.