"Don't miss!" - The debilitating effects of suppressive imagery on golf putting performance

The present study examined the impact of suppressive imagery (i.e., trying to avoid a particular error), the frequency of this suppression, and attemp ts to replace negative error-ridden images with positive ones on golf putti ng performance. Novice golfers (N = 126) were assigned to a no-imagery cont rol group or to 1 of 6 groups in a 3 x 2 design, with imagery type (positiv e, suppression, suppression-replacement) and imagery frequency (before ever y putt, before every third putt) as factors. Results showed that the accura cy of the positive imagery group improved across imaging blocks-regardless of imagery frequency. The suppression and suppression-replacement imagery g roups' accuracy improved when imaging before every third putt, yet declined when imaging before every putt. These findings suggest that frequent appli cation of suppressive imagery hurts performance and that attempting to repl ace negative images with corrective ones does not ameliorate the damage.