Feeling in control? perceived choice fails to translate to better golf putting performance and learning

The purpose of this study was to examine whether providing choice during practice improves golf putting performance and learning compared to denying choice implicitly or explicitly. Sixty participants were allocated to three experimental groups: (1) choice group - provided with the choice to start practicing from 2 m or 3 m, (2) yoked-unaware group - matched to the choices made by participants in the choice group without being informed about the choice manipulation, and (3) yoked-aware group - matched to the choices made by participants in the choice group and explicitly told that choice was denied to them during the study. All participants performed familiarization trials followed by 50 putts from one distance (2 or 3 m) on the first day, 50 putts from the other distance on the second day, and retention and transfer tests on the third day. Results showed that perceived choice was higher in the choice group than in both yoked groups. However, there were no differences between groups in golf putting accuracy and consistency throughout practice and in both retention and transfer tests. The results suggest that, at least in a short period of practice, providing participants with choice has no benefit for learning a golf putting task.