Quiet Eye
Would you be interested in improving your score by 1.9 shots per round simply by changing how and where you focus your eyes? Of course you would. Everybody who is serious about golf is constantly searching for ways to improve their game. Golfers grind for hours on their putting, short game, and ball striking all in an effort to gain even fractions of a stroke. I am about to tell you about a technique called Quiet Eye and how it can save you almost 2 strokes per round on the green alone. The best part? It doesn’t require sweating for hours in the heat at the practice area of your local course to learn how to do it.
Quiet Eye (QE) is not a new revelation although it is fairly unknown to most people. Researchers have been studying its effects on sport performance for decades. It has been found across many different sports that elite athletes use a longer Quiet Eye period, and that a longer Quiet Eye duration is associated with enhanced performance in that sport (4). Research has shown clear improvements in performance with Quiet Eye training for basketball, rifle shooting, darts, billiards, golf, and even improved accuracy in hospital settings during surgery. (6)
What Is Quiet Eye?
“Quiet Eye is the final fixation or tracking gaze that is located on a specific location or object in the visuo-motor workspace within 3° of visual angle for a minimum of 100 ms” (4). Simply put, Quiet Eye is when you focus your eyes very intently on one very small target for a couple of seconds. Think about using your eyes to burn a hole through a specific dimple on your golf ball and not allowing them to wander. The smaller the spot on the ball, the better. What you focus on doesn’t matter, it could be the sun reflection spot on the ball, a point where dimples meet, the end of a letter in the brand name of the ball, or whatever you prefer. What does matter is that you don’t lose focus on that spot for about 2-3 seconds before the stroke and you keep that focus during the stroke as well. It sounds simple but studies have shown that most people aren’t actually focusing their attention where they think they are, especially if they have a broad target like “the ball”. When trying to look at “the ball” you will find your eyes are wandering all over the surface of the ball and never really settling on a specific spot. Try it out on your own and see for yourself what I’m talking about. This constant eye movement around the ball is what we need to correct.
In a study with 50 low handicap golfers, they found a significant difference in eye gaze during made putts compared to missed putts. The study showed that for missed putts, the QE duration was significantly shorter compared to successful putts. During the missed putts, golfers had shorter QE duration while performing the stroke and after the stroke. In other words, they allowed their eyes to wander during the stroke. (1)
How does it work
“Theoretically, longer QE periods allow performers an extended duration of programming (dorsal attention), while minimizing distraction (ventral attention) from other internal or environmental cues” (3). More simply, when your eyes are moving around it is sending all sorts of data to the brain about the environment. When your eyes stop moving, it allows your brain time to actually process this data. Our eyes are incredible at interpreting distances, angles, speeds, etc. It sends all this to the brain to process and determine where we need to aim, how hard we need to hit the ball, and so on. If we never stop our eyes, we never end the stream of data to the brain and we never allow it to process all this vital information. We have basically wasted our mentally energy that we used in the pre-shot routine. Using Quiet Eye technique will allow you to use this energy to hole more putts and shoot lower scores.
Quiet Eye also produces physiological changes in the body that are beneficial for golf. Moore et al. performed a study with 40 participants completing over 400 putts a piece comparing QE trained golfers vs non QE trained. They found not only was the QE trained group more accurate with their putts, but they also displayed “lower clubhead acceleration, greater heart rate deceleration, and reduced muscle activity than the technical trained group during retention and pressure tests.” (2) The smoother stroke, lower heart rate, and reduced extra muscle movements helps explain how QE can help with, not only golf, but improved performance in other sports as well.
What exactly does the research say?
In a study with low handicap golfers in laboratory settings, QE trained golfers make 5% more putts from 6 to 10 feet than controls. Their misses were also better, being consistently left closer to the hole, demonstrating superior distance control leading to fewer than 3 putts. More importantly, this also carried over to competitive arenas. They found the QE trained golfers improved putting stats by 1.92 putts per round. (3) Based on the 2022-2023 PGA Tour season, 1.92 putts per round is the difference between the #1 in that category and 105th ranked player in that category.
Kinda crazy right? Now it would probably be safe to assume that PGA tour players likely have already been using Quite Eye even if they aren’t fully aware of it. If they weren’t taught it outright, they have likely intuitively figured it out over their thousands and thousands of hours of practice. That’s probably one of the reasons they have become elite in the first place since it is known that elite performers are better at using Quiet Eye that non-elite. This is where it can become a huge advantage for normal golfers. Everyday golfers, those with handicaps higher than 5, probably aren’t using Quiet Eye at all. You likely have your eyes wandering quite a bit more than you think when getting ready to pull the trigger. So, if golfers simply would become more aware of their focus and direct it with clear intent, there’s no reason why that shouldn’t immediately start to improve their putting stats and ultimately drop their scores.
How to use it in your own game.
While it is very simple in theory, controlling your intense focus is more difficult than it might seem. This will take some serious concentration but there is no reason that with a little will-power you cannot master this technique.
The instructions given out in the Vine et al. (3) study are listed below:
· 1. Assume your stance and align the club so the gaze is on the back of the ball.
· 2. After setting up over the ball, fix your gaze on the hole. Fixations toward the hole should be made no more than 3 times.
· 3. The final fixation should be a QE on the back of the ball. The onset of the QE should occur before the stroke begins and last for 2 to 3 seconds.
· 4. No gaze should be directed to the clubhead during the backswing or foreswing.
· 5. The QE should remain on the green for 200 to 300 ms after the club contacts the ball.
Easy enough right? While most of these studies focused on putting, there is no reason why this can’t help improve ball striking with full shots as well. Using this in all areas of the game is sure to be a benefit to you, so get out there and give it a shot. Remember that success doesn’t come easy so make sure you stick with this, it will take time to fully engrain into your routine but once it does your playing partners will surely take notice.
Helpful tip:
A brief (20 minute) mindfulness meditation leads to significantly improved Quite Eye duration on targets. Meditation led to increased activation of brain areas related to attention, increased focus during competition, and improved athletic performance (5). This meditation does not have to be done seated with your eyes closed in a dark quiet room. Instead, it can be active mediation. Active meditation involves being totally present in the current task. Don’t think about how stressful work is, or your home life might be, or about how much you have to do later. Instead, be aware of your breathing, your immediate surroundings, the temperature, your feelings and emotions. Be fully present in the moment. Do this on the range and on the putting green before your round to see the benefits. So put away your phone and be present before a round in order to increase your focus and performance.
Summary
· Quiet eye is the technique of keeping your eyes focused intently on one small spot for 2-3s before and during your stroke which allows your brain to more effectively process visual information leading to more accurate putts.
· It has been shown for decades to be a hallmark of elite performers in their given sports.
· Numerous studies have shown its benefits in golf, including improving putting performance by up to 1.9 putts per round.
References
1 Vine, S. J., Lee, D., Moore, L. J., & Wilson, M. R. (2013). Quiet eye and choking: online control breaks down at the point of performance failure. Medicine and science in sports and exercise, 45(10), 1988–1994. https://doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0b013e31829406c7
2 Moore, L. J., Vine, S. J., Cooke, A., Ring, C., & Wilson, M. R. (2012). Quiet eye training expedites motor learning and aids performance under heightened anxiety: the roles of response programming and external attention. Psychophysiology, 49(7), 1005–1015. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8986.2012.01379.x
3 Vine, S. J., Moore, L. J., & Wilson, M. R. (2011). Quiet eye training facilitates competitive putting performance in elite golfers. Frontiers in psychology, 2, 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00008
4 Lebeau, J. C., Liu, S., Sáenz-Moncaleano, C., Sanduvete-Chaves, S., Chacón-Moscoso, S., Becker, B. J., & Tenenbaum, G. (2016). Quiet Eye and Performance in Sport: A Meta-Analysis. Journal of sport & exercise psychology, 38(5), 441–457. https://doi.org/10.1123/jsep.2015-0123
5 Gao, Q., & Zhang, L. (2023). Brief mindfulness meditation intervention improves attentional control of athletes in virtual reality shooting competition: Evidence from fNIRS and eye tracking. Psychology of sport and exercise, 69, 102477. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2023.102477
6 Kohn, D. (2015). What Athletes See. The Atlantic.