Golfers struggle with different attitudes in different scenarios
Friday 20 November, 2009
Many players fail to hole birdie efforts with their golf putters for fear that they will miss and end up registering a bogey instead, researchers claim.
Two professors at the University of Pennsylvania have studied the putting results of professional golfers and found that they have different mentalities on the green depending on the number of shots they have already taken.
Devin Pope and Maurice Schweitzer have calculated that a professional finishes a tournament one shot worse off simply as a result of their attitude when on a putting surface, which could equate to €1.2 million each year in prize money for the top players.
They have found that golfers take a more conservative approach when faced with a birdie putt, while being far more aggressive when attempting to hole a similar shot for par or bogey.
Pope said that the "research provides evidence that people work especially hard in order to avoid losses" and that the "agony of a bogey seems to outweigh the thrill of a birdie" for players on the golf course.
The researchers revealed their findings in a paper entitled: "Is Tiger Woods Loss Averse? Persistent Bias in the Face of Experience, Competition and High Stakes."
Golf is widely regarded as being a mental game, with among the numerous pieces of advice offered in the area being trying to stay relaxed and remaining confident that a player will get their desired result when striking a golf ball.
Many players fail to hole birdie efforts with their 
