The Milgram experiments into the study of obedience to authority published in the Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology in 1963 describe the results of an experiment to discover the extent to which people obey authority. The results are interesting and Wikipedia provides a good summary. But the bottom line is that people will and do follow the voice of authority, often beyond their own morally-defined boundaries.
The experiment comes to mind when I read:
It is a scientific fact that a golfer can achieve the most consistent and reliable stroke if he is able to eliminate or at least control the movement in the hands and wrists, and allow the stroke to be facilitated by the larger muscles in the biceps and upper body. This is because there is simply less margin for error in these larger muscle movements. It is also a fact that stroking a heavier object naturally engages those larger muscles and discourages the use of the fingers, hands and wrists. Therefore, a heavier putter promotes more consistency by naturally eliminating the hands and wrists from the stroke. It is a simple principle of biomechanics that makes perfect sense.[1]
Too many facts for me to contemplate, but, if the man in the white lab coat says it is so then it must be.
I was in the pro shop this morning and saw a pink putter made by a company called Yes. A woman’s puter. I thought that this would be ideal for Linda. After our game I showed it to her and while she expressed interest, she said let’s go and look at Golf Town where we can try it out. So off we went. We tried several putters, but in the end we both agreed that we liked the Heavy Putter.
But, at the last minute she bailed on me, saying “why don’t you get it? I’ll borrow it and see if I like it.”
Duped again. Women ! But I had to obey.
Leave a Reply