Understanding The Golfer’s Brain

It will not surprise some to know that a lifetime of golf affects the brain. Understanding the golfer’s brain can illuminate that journey, somewhat like reverse engineering. Particular activities and vocations make lasting impressions upon our mental hardware. A musician’s brain shows:

“Learning to play a musical instrument is a complex task that integrates multiple sensory modalities and higher-order cognitive functions. Therefore, musical training is considered a useful framework for the research on training-induced neuroplasticity.”

1.     (https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnins.2021.630829/full )

Similarly, a professional dancer’s brain reveals structural changes from the neural processing work demanded of that activity over many years. The region connecting the two hemispheres of the cerebral cortex is enlarged in both musicians and dancers. The professional golfer and those who have devoted large chunks of their life to this pursuit will show structural brain changes via neuroplasticity. 

Why Do Golfer’s Brains Change?

Those of us who have embarked upon the mysteries of the golf swing via personal experience know how challenging this process can be at the beginning. Most human beings lack an innate biomechanical awareness, as the movements of our physical bodies are governed by an autonomic system. Once we have learned to walk as toddlers we do not spend a great deal of time thinking about how we achieve this mastery of ambulation and balance. Riding a bike is another example of this. Therefore, when we come to isolating the biomechanical sequences involved in swinging a golf club it is initially a tough gig. I have referred to the driver swing in previous books, as “dancing with wood.” If you think about it for a minute, the analogy fits, as we perform this ritualised series of movements, which must be executed perfectly for best results. Many players make practice swings in a parody of a repetitive modern dance movement. If aliens were watching this from above and knew nothing of golf what would they make of this spectacle happening on golf courses across the land? A strange mating ritual or war dance perhaps?

The Structural Changes In The Brains Of Golfers

Basic understandings of the two hemispheres of the cerebral cortex tell us that the left and right sides are responsible for distinct types of neural processing. The left hemisphere is involved in data processing, crunching numbers and such like. The right hemisphere experiences the big picture and in golf may be responsible for playing the shot.

“In general, the left hemisphere controls speech, comprehension, arithmetic, and writing. The right hemisphere controls creativity, spatial ability, artistic, and musical skills… the left hemisphere of the brain is responsible for language and speech and is called the "dominant" hemisphere. The right hemisphere plays a large part in interpreting visual information and spatial processing. In about one third of people who are left-handed, speech function may be located on the right side of the brain. Left-handed people may need special testing to determine if their speech center is on the left or right side prior to any surgery in that area.”

2.     (https://mayfieldclinic.com/pe-anatbrain.htm#:~:text=In%20general%2C%20the%20left%20hemisphere,%2C%20artistic%2C%20and%20musical%20skills. )

You can visualise yourself on the golf course and the various processes taking place whilst playing golf. On the tee you are checking the wind factor, the length of the hole, the positioning of bunkers a