Discussion
RW motor learning
The purpose of this study was to investigate the real-world golf putting accuracy and kinematic differences between RW and VR practice using a commercially available device and application. Based on previous research demonstrating positive transfer of learning following VR practice [The observations in the present experiment support the predictions made by the identical element’s theory [The present study adds to the small body of research examining motor skill transfer within immersive VR. More so, this is only one of a few studies investigating the efficacy of using commercially available VR systems to improve RW motor learning. Michalski et al. [It is important to note that our findings are inconsistent with a recent study conducted by Drew et al. [Another primary difference between the present study and Drew et al. [In the present experiment, practice in both groups led to similar biomechanical measurements. Specifically, there were no club head displacement or velocity group differences in the posttest following VR or RW practice. While very few studies have examined performance production measures, such as biomechanical kinematics [To our knowledge, this is one of the first studies to show that practicing a motor skill using commercially available VR leads to similar outcomes and mechanics compared to physical practice. While these findings provide theoretical and practical value, this study is not without limitations. First, the empirical evidence testing transfer of learning using immersive VR technology is still relatively scarce. While this study provides evidence that commercially available VR can effectively lead to performance improvements in a real-world setting, much is still to be discovered regarding how these transfer of learning results generalize to other hardware and software configurations. Furthermore, future research should continue to investigate how the practice of other types of motor skills transfer to the RW environment in comparison to RW practice. Additionally, studies should investigate the extent to which the level of fidelity between virtual and physical realities can differ while still achieving a positive transfer of learning effect. Another limitation is the proximity to statistical significance (p = 0.051) observed in the present study for the club velocity between-group analysis. Club velocity may have reached a statistical difference between groups in a larger sample size. Importantly, however, the mean differences between the groups decreased as the amount of practice increased. Extending the number of practice trials and days to investigate how extended amounts of practice influence performance production and outcome measures would provide valuable insight. Lastly, although not common in motor learning research, future investigations should evaluate learning effects following VR practice over greater periods of time (e.g., one week, one month) following the cessation of acquisition to examine the permanency of observed improvements.Despite these limitations, the results of the present study suggest that motor skill practice using a commercially available VR application and hardware can effectively elicit a positive transfer of learning to a real-world environment. More specifically, using a readily available golf putting application and hand-held controllers produced biomechanical and accuracy improvements that did not statistically differ compared to golf putting in the real world. These findings provide insights for practitioners in sport, military, clinical, and industry settings. Specifically, the results from the present study suggest that commercially available VR can offer an effective alternative or supplement to traditional skill acquisition methods. This has been of specific interest to clinical [e.g., 