Golfers have the best memories of all athletes and can remember ‘astonishing …

Golfers remember 'significantly more', says Dr Joel Fish
May be because each shot is unique, whether distance, approach, wind speed or slope
Also get longer to consider each shot, unlike other sports people who have to make an instant decision

By
Lewis Smith

PUBLISHED:

16:54 GMT, 17 June 2013

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UPDATED:

17:20 GMT, 17 June 2013

Golfers have the best memories of all professional sports people, a psychologist has claimed.

A combination of their visualisation techniques and the uniqueness of each shot they play contributes to their elephantine memories, said Dr Joel Fish.

Each shot is filed away into the memory backs to be accessed for future reference when they are faced with a similar situation.

Luke Donald tees off on the 16th tee during the fourth round of the US Open at Merion Golf Club.

Luke Donald tees off on the 16th tee during the fourth round of the US Open at Merion Golf Club. Each shot is unique and golfers can remember them in astonishing detail, maintains a sports psychologist

‘Golfers can remember significantly more,' compared to athletes from other sports, Dr Fish, the director of the Centre for Sport Psychology in Philadelphia, told the New York Times.

Golfers are helped to remember because each shot is unique, whether distance, approach, wind speed or slope.

Moreover, they get a long time to consider how to play the shot, unlike most other sports people who have to make an instant decision.

His claims were backed up by golfers such as Ernie Els, with two British and two US Open championships under his belt, who said: ‘The majors, I really remember my wins. I really remember almost every shot.’

Luke Donald said there are things outside golf that he struggles to remember but that it is completely different with the sport when ‘it doesn’t take me long to remember things’.

Josh Teater, a golf pro since 2001, put it down to the length of time golfers get to consider what to do: ‘You’re living in the moment for a while, as opposed to shooting a basketball.’

Ernie Els lines up a shot. He says he can remember every shot of his triumphs at the US and British Opens.

US golfer Matt Kuchar dismissed the idea recalls all his shots and maintains he plays 'more in the present' than the past.

Ernie Els (left) can remember every shot he made in his Open triumphs in Britain and the US. But Matt Kutchar (right) disputes the idea that a good memory helps golfers - he says he plays 'much more in the present than the past'

But it’s not all advantageous, said Alan Goldberg, a sports psychologist from Amherst, Massachusettes.

He maintains that it is best to rely on the unconscious memory – the hindbrain – to conscious thought – the forebrain – because of the risk of performance anxiety.

‘Think of them as two different-caliber golfers,” he said. “The hindbrain is a pro, excellent technique and timing. The front brain is a hacker. If you gave the front brain a golf club, it wouldn’t know what end to hold.’

Golfer Jerry Kelly said that under pressure golfers can quickly reveal their shortcomings: ‘You go through so many processes in your head, you forget about one key bit of information that could have saved a shot.'

And Matt Kuchar, said his memory is far from perfect, which he regards as beneficial to his play: ‘I get up in a press conference after a round, and a guy asks me what I did on 15, and I can’t remember what 15 is.

“I just try to play the shot in front of me. I’m much more in the present than the past.'