The Hot Hand and the Cold Hand in Professional Golf

33 Pages Posted: 9 Jul 2008

See all articles by Jeffrey A. Livingston

Jeffrey A. Livingston

Bentley University - Department of Economics

Date Written: April 25, 2007

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. This study examines hole-by-hole performances by four types of professional golfers, which is perhaps the ideal environment to evaluate whether such an effect exists. The results show some evidence that there is both a hot hand effect and a cold hand effect (bad performances lead to more bad performances), but the effects are not as strong as people believe them to be, and they are different for different types of players.

Keywords: hot hand effect, golf, law of small numbers, decision making

JEL Classification: D01, D81, D83, D84

Suggested Citation

Livingston, Jeffrey A., The Hot Hand and the Cold Hand in Professional Golf (April 25, 2007). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1157159 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1157159

Jeffrey A. Livingston (Contact Author)

Bentley University - Department of Economics ( email )

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Waltham, MA 02452-4705
United States
781-891-2538 (Phone)
781-891-2896 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://works.bepress.com/jeffrey_livingston/

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