The purpose of the study was to understand how force is controlled for
impact movements such as golf putting. Expert players (10) and contro
l subjects (10) executed a putt as accurately as possible, in order to
reach a target distance of 1, 2, 3, or 4 m., Movements of the club we
re recorded at 200 Hz via a SELSPOT system. Overall, the results showe
d that, in order to increase club velocity at the moment of contact wi
th the ball with increasing distance of the target, subjects increased
the downswing (DS) amplitude maintaining DS movement time constant. T
he change in force required to reach the different distances seemed to
rely on an adjustment of the magnitude of the motor command within th
e same time period. Furthermore, our results showed that the movement
of putting consists primarily in specifying the amplitude of the Backs
wing (BS) as a function of the distance of the target. This gives rise
to a motor impulse originating the force-time function required for a
n adequate DS movement. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.