Divot Mix

"It seems to me that the ideal green would be sufficiently soft to hold only a properly placed pitch - and by ‘hold’ I do not mean ‘to stay within a very few feet.’ To carry out the intention of the designer, conditions ought to be such that a definite penalty should be sustained by the player who has played himself out of position." -- Bobby Jones

Surveys begin for Golf Course Environmental Profile Project

The third phase of the Golf Course Environmental Profile Project begins March 19 when GCSAA members and nonmembers will be e-mailed their own survey links. The survey is of a multi-year project evaluating environmental performance on golf courses, this segment focuses on nutrient use. Surveys are due April 27.

The Toro Foundation donated $50,000 to The Environmental Institute for Golf to continue its support of the project. Members receive 0.25 service points for taking the survey and will be entered into a random drawing for a $250 gift card (one for each of the country’s seven agronomic regions). 

Scientists say "It's mostly in your head"
Although anyone who has played much golf probably already knows that it's their brain that causes most of the problems they suffer on the golf course, now a group of scientists from Stanford University have proof.

"The main reason you can't move the same way each and every time, such as swinging a golf club, is that your brain can't plan the swing the same way each time," says electrical engineering assistant professor Krishna Shenoy, whose research includes study of the neural basis of sensorimotor integration and movement control. He, postdoctoral researcher Mark Churchland and electrical engineering doctoral candidate and medical student Afsheen Afshar authored the study.

According to Churchland, it's as if each time the brain tries to solve the problem of planning how to move, it does it anew. Practice and training can help the brain solve the problem more capably, but people and other primates simply aren't wired for consistency like computers or machines. Instead, people seem to be improvisers by default.

They concluded that movement variability is not primarily a mechanical phenomenon. In fact, less than half the reason for inconsistency in movement lies in the muscles.

"This is the first study to successfully record neural activity during the planning period and link it on a trial-by-trial basis to performance during those trials," Churchland says.

The Stanford team decided to do just that with the help of rhesus macaque monkeys trained that when shown a green spot, they were rewarded with juice if they reached slowly to touch the spot. For a red spot, they were to reach fast.

Over a series of thousands of trials, the researchers observed subtle variations in the speeds of the reaches.

For athletes, the inability to replicate the perfect movement might seem to be a frustrating problem that needs to be solved. But the researchers speculate that the brain has evolved its apparently improvisational style precisely because the majority of situations requiring significant movement are novel.

"The nervous system was not designed to do the same thing over and over again," Churchland says. "The nervous system was designed to be flexible. You typically find yourself doing things you've never done before."

Practice and training can reduce the variation, but they don't change the way the mind plans motion. Unfortunately for those of us facing a tee shot between a lake and out of bounds, the research doesn't point to any definitive means for combating it.

One potential application of the research could come in building artificial circuits modeled on the brain. But the research simply set out to explain variability in movement.

"This is basic science," Shenoy says. "We ask questions because we want to know."

James Finegan wins 2006 USGA Book Award

James W. Finegan’s "Where Golf is Great: The Finest Courses of Scotland and Ireland" has been named the recipient of the 2006 United States Golf Association’s Herbert Warren Wind Book Award.

"Where Golf is Great" celebrates the rich tradition of golf in Scotland and Ireland. A noted golf writer, Finegan describes more than 150 courses through Scotland and Ireland, detailing their rich history and charm. Well-known courses like St. Andrews, Gleneagles and Royal County Down are featured, as are many unheralded courses such as Brora in Scotland and Ireland’s Carlow.

Accompanied by Laurence Lambrecht’s stunning photographs, "Where Golf is Great" is the ultimate travelogue for the golfer. In addition to course histories and factoids, Finegan adds insight into the best places to stay and dine after a day on the links.

"For 40 years, I have believed that Herb Wind was without peer among American golf writers and that his masterpiece, "The Story of American Golf," is the single-best golf book, from either side of the ocean, ever written," said Finegan.

"My book on the courses of Scotland and Ireland was actually inspired by two of Wind’s most memorable New Yorker pieces, "North to the Links of Dornoch" in 1964 and "The Greens of Ireland" in 1967.  It is safe to say I will forever be in his debt."