HHS HealthBeat (August 29, 2008)

A larger hole

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

How big is a golf hole?

Yeah, it’s a trick question. The answer seems to depend on how good you are.

Jessica Witt of Purdue University studies how athletes perceive things. She wanted to see how golfers saw the size of the hole. So Witt showed golfers a poster board with various sized holes, and asked them to estimate which was the size of the hole on the green. She also got information about how well they played. 

``Golfers who reported lower scores selected the larger circles as matching the size of the hole, thus suggesting that they perceived the hole as larger.’’ (8 seconds)

Witt says perception isn’t just about seeing the hole – but it still pays to keep your eye on the ball, and the hole.

The study in the journal Psychonomic Bulletin and Review was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: August, 29 2008