The 5½-inch Course... 1 About the Research Study... 1 Brain Mapping and Golf Performance Mental Skills that Help Improve Your Putting

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1 A CASE STUDY by

2 The 5½-inch Course About the Research Study Brain Mapping and Golf Performance Mental Skills that Help Improve Your Putting Awareness - Taking it All In Attention - Details Matter Synchronicity - Getting it All Together Intention - Making it Happen Adaptability - Consistently Hitting Your Best... 7 It s Time to Game Your Brain

3 The 5½-inch Course You ve probably heard the expression that golf is played on the 5½-inch course between the player s ears. It s an old one, of course, but the message is clear: golf is a highly mentally-involved sport! And yet, for all the time you spend practicing your physical technique, researching new equipment, and otherwise doing your homework, how much thought have you given specifically to the development of your mental game? Perhaps you think it would be too tedious to train these mental skills. Perhaps you don t think you have enough time in addition to getting out on the links. Or maybe you ve given a lot of thought to your mental game but haven t found the right tools yet. Regardless of your history or skill level, what if you could play a simple and fun game on your computer or smartphone that trains universal mental skills, especially designed to improve your putting game in just ten minutes? THINQ Golf games have been designed to do exactly that they are convenient, accessible 24/7 and they work and we ve got the data to prove it. We put these games to the test, commissioning a research study to examine the effectiveness of these games on actual golfers sinking actual putts. About the Research Study The research study was comprised of four parts and carried out under the supervision of a PhD, with each part designed to test a particular aspect of the THINQ Golf training tools. In each study, golfers were split into experiment and control groups. Each group would complete the golf exercise to get a baseline performance mark and brain map before the games were tested. The experiment group would then play the specified game for a period, while the control group would simply rest for the same time period. Afterward, the groups would complete the golf exercise again to see the changes in performance and brain mapping. 1

4 Brain Mapping and Golf Performance These games are built on a foundation of solid science. Electroencephalography, or EEG, works by measuring the amount of electrical activity in specific areas of the brain. By combining this brain mapping technology with actual golf performance testing, we can deduce exactly when your brain is reaching the mental states necessary to reliably hit those putts every time. This information is invaluable to the golfer, and THINQ Golf has leveraged it to create training tools that stimulate areas of the brain known to be related to golf performance. Based on this research, here are the five mental skills targeted by THINQ Golf games. 5 Mental Skills that Help Improve Your Putting 1 Awareness: Taking It All In It s impossible to overstate the importance of target mindfulness in putting, since the goal is so close. The feel of the shot at 350 yards is much different than that of a 6 foot putt. The hole is now one shot away, there is far less room for error and the pressure is on. This 4 ¼ inch hole can weigh heavy on your 5 ½ inch brain. If the golfer wants their subconscious to have everything it needs to make the putt, they must first be clearly aware of the hole from a balanced and conscious perspective. Those quick glances at the hole we often observe in routines do not allow for adequate awareness. When the glances are so fast, the golfer needs to take three or four of them to get adequate information. 2

5 Playing the Awareness game will help the golfer to look at a target and gather adequate information; this trains a skill that allows the subconscious to sink the putt on the green! And the more a golfer is aware of the target, the more he or she will be able to succeed even with distractions. Research backs this up. One study examined the effect of the Awareness game on the brain patterns and performance of skilled golfers on a 105 yard shot to a flag stick. Results indicated that those who played the Awareness game showed decreased brain activity compared to control participants, a desirable condition because the mental work is shifted from the conscious mind to the unconscious mind. The control condition showed increased left hemisphere activity, which is negatively related to performance. 2 Attention: Details Matter The final variable over which the golfer has conscious control, both before and during the motion, is the amount and quality of attention paid. The golfer s ability to select their focus and attention can either facilitate or inhibit the outcome of the putt. There are three aspects of attention necessary for putting: i. Clarity of focus Can you see the putt in your mind s eye? Can you feel the shot going into the hole? Clarity of focus means that you can clearly visualize all the components of the shot coming together in as much detail as possible. ii. Sustained attention You need to do more than just focus clearly. That intense focus needs to be sustained for several seconds during the swing, and slightly before the swing even begins. This kind of vigilance ensures that nothing misses your sight. iii. Selective intensity Imagine you ve got your putt all lined up and are at the height of focus when suddenly an animal runs across the course. Selective intensity means that you can focus on the task at hand and not let a distraction cloud your mind with a torrent of irrelevant thoughts. The Attention game incorporates all three aspects of attention and becomes increasingly more challenging with each hole. Mastering the skill of attention and being able to turn it up and down on command is critical for optimal performance in putting. 3

6 Where s the proof? Another study recruited 21 golfers and tested the effect of the Attention and Synchronicity games on brain patterns and golf putting performance for a round of 12 foot putts. EEG and performance measures were assessed before and after the 10 minute game training session. The control group rested for 10 minutes instead of playing the game. The brain maps and graphs for the Attention and Synchronicity games showed increased total power following 10 minutes of play. This was especially true for the Attention game in the skilled golfers. Performance results showed significantly less cm error for the Attention group following game training compared to the Synchronicity and Control groups. When divided into skilled and novice golfers, the skilled golfers showed less error during the post test. Quality of Feel improved significantly during the post test for the novice golfer. An additional study examined the effect of a 3-week Attention Game training session on EEG brain activity and golf putting performance. 53% more putts were made by the Attention game training group, while the Control group decreased putts made by 16%. The Attention and Synchronicity games tend to show increased activation following 10 minutes of play and this relates to less putting error (total group and Attention group) and greater quality of feel (novice). The Attention game appears to positively influence reduced error specifically among skilled players. 4

7 3 Synchronicity: Getting it All Together Sometimes you can just feel it when you hit a shot just right. That s an aspect of synchronicity when you understand everything that needs to be done and can feel the rhythm of a perfect execution. In putting, the golfer is required to synchronize more variables at once and at a finer level: the conscious/subconscious mind, the body, the putter, the ball and the green. When all of these elements are balanced and in sync, the ball goes in the hole! The training of synchronization will help golfers to start the swing, complete the motion and the follow-through, line up everything at impact, and complete the shot. It helps the golfer get the right feel for rolling the ball into the hole. The Synchronicity game trains this rhythm and enhances quality of feel especially among novice golfers. Research shows that ten minutes of mental game play may be an effective warm-up prior to a round of golf, increasing quality of feel for putting by 6% compared to control golfers who decreased quality of feel by 8%! 4 Intention: Making it Happen It is assumed that the intention of the putter is to putt the ball in the hole. However, there s a lot more to it than that. Risk assessment, current score, and more all come into the strategic considerations of how far the golfer is willing to go for the putt. Do you intend to go for the high-risk/high-reward shot? Or does the situation call for a more conservative strategy? This clear intention must be determined before the golfer walks up to the ball and so the Intention game is designed to teach golfers to start, perform, and finish! Distraction is added as an additional challenge, and at completion of the putt the golfer learns strategy by deciding whether to anchor the putt, keep it, or throw it in the trash. 5

8 So what do the results say? The fourth study compared golfers who played the Intention game for 10 minutes with control golfers who rested for 10 minutes. Golfers hit 20 balls from a distance of 12 feet. The Intention game showed significantly reduced error from the hole. The Intention game golfers reduced error by 24% while the Control golfers increased error by 9% following the 10 minute play/ rest period. There was also a trend toward increased number of putts made following the Intention game compared to Controls. 6

9 5 Adaptability: Consistently Hitting Your Best Putting is a very simple task in physical and biomechanical terms, but it could hardly be more complicated from a mental standpoint. Anyone can putt a golf ball, but the golfer who can consistently make the putt when the pressure is on is truly a master. In the real world, both mentally and physically, visual, auditory, and kinesthetic distractions can come out of nowhere and ruin your shot. The crucial ability to maintain focus while performing under pressure is trained in the Adaptability game. The Adaptability game presents a maze similar to a putting green through which the golfer, ignoring the multiple distractors along the way, must learn to make decisions and follow their path to finish the hole. This adaptability helps foster consistency and confidence in the golfer under a wide range of circumstances. It s Time to Game Your Brain You ve seen the science. You ve seen the results. You understand how these vitally important mental skills can rapidly improve your golf game. It s time to start taking your mental game training as seriously as the rest of your practice. Register today and start gaming your brain, wherever, whenever! THINQgolf.com/become-a-member/ 7