The hot hand and the cold hand in professional golf

Jeffrey A. Livingston

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2012, vol. 81, issue 1, 172-184

Abstract: Previous studies have shown that people believe in the existence of the “hot hand” effect: recent good performances make one more confident and lead to more good performances. However, economists have found little evidence that such an effect is present. Motivated by models of momentum from psychology, this study examines hole-by-hole performances of four types of professional golfers, which is perhaps the ideal environment to evaluate whether such an effect exists. The results show that evidence consistent with the existence of hot hand and cold hand can be masked by looking only at overall mean impacts because the existence and magnitude of the effects can vary with the player's experience.

Keywords: Hot hand effect; Golf; Law of small numbers; Decision making (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D01 D81 D83 D84 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (19)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:81:y:2012:i:1:p:172-184

DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2011.10.001

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