Dear Neville,
My website has a few pages dealing with breathing and putting. One is in the science section and % also have noted some sports spychology stuff about it, from Alan Fine. These pages can be located by searching "breathing" on my Site Search function on the Home page. My research database also has some golf instruction references.
I have been studying breathing in putting steadily for about six or seven years now, starting with James Austin's massive book, Zen and the Brain. This book traces the neurophysiology of breathing and zen meditative states. There are a number of excellent books about Yoga and breathing, and these mostlyt relate to calmness and relaxed body states and meditative mental states. In addition, of course, there are the "western" books on abdominal breathing for relaxation, but these are really based on the "eastern" traditions. More straightforward science works on asthma and the carbon monoxide - oxygen balance in thge cardiovascular system are also very interesting. I haved also been working on combining the pattern of breathing for distance perception by coordinating the rate of inspiration with the duration of the head turn in targeting from beside the ball. This process generates a proprioceptive registration of the feeling of expansion of the chest cavity that coordinates with the distance of the putt, in the same manner that neck proprioception in turning an angle from ball to target registers a distance. Similar breathing patterns are found in target shooting with pistols and rifles, and in archery.
The sort of pattern that Len Mattiace describes is basically one of two well-known patterns in golf putting lore.The opposite pattern is to inhale and hold the breath in when putting. I believe this is one recommended by Nicklaus among others at one point or another. Mattiace's pattern is to take a deep breath and let it out, and then putt from a state of exhalation. I've never heard Mattiace link his breathing pattern with deep abdominal breathing for relaxation -- it seems to be more of a hold-still thing, as is the Nicklaus pattern.
The pattern that I am working on currently is to inspire when turning the head from ball to target, timing the fullness of inspiration to completion with the arrival of vision at the target -- regardless of how far off. Thus there is a timing feature and a physical feeling of filling the lungs that varies with the length of the putt. Then in reverse, the breath is allowed to expire and the chest to relax during the turn of the head from target back to ball. At the time to pull the trigger, then, the body is relaxed and in a state of exhalation. This state is one that can be maintained easily for plenty of time to putt. A refined pattern is then to inspire in the backstroke and exhale in the down and through stroke, with the timing and extent of breathing matching the targeting extent. The idea is to coordinate the chest proprioception with the timing pattern of breathing and cardiovascular carbon monoxide - oxygen metabolism. The timing processes for breathing and heartrate are buried deep in the brainstem, and are very fundamental. Anxiety is marked by an imbalance of breathing and heartrate that also has the oxygen - carbon monoxide metabolism out of kilter (blood gases not properly proportioned in relation to oxygen uptake and cm expiration from body tissues and organ, including the brain). Brain function is fairly sensitive to this blood-gases balance, as the brain is the principal site of oxygen metabolism in the body.
Another interesting facet of breathing is that there is a cycling of about 90 minutes in which the nostril changes. We typically breathe mostly through the right nostril for about 90 minutes and then switch to the opposite nostril, and so on. This pattern influences the hemispheristicity of brain function, because thge nostril of breathing "cools" the base of one hemisphere more than another. This places greater functional metabolism biochemistry in the other hemisphere, which is fairly dependent upon temperature of the brain. Left nostril breathing helps emphasize the right brain's spatial analysis processes and deemphasize the bothersome analytical and verbaL processes of the left hemisphere (in the vast majority of people). That is an area I sort of explore from time to time.
A slightly different idea is to use breathing combined with specific scents. Different scents, like citrus or pine or lavender or musk, relate to states of mind and mood for energy and clarity of perception. This is usually too far out for most golfers to follow, but obviously the olfactory sense is a very powerful and under-appreciated pathway to brain states and perhaps performance enhancement. Just ask the boxer's corner man holding the smelling salts! Or the alluring female!
I usually don't bring thisbreathing stuff up too often in teaching unless someone inquires about it. The sorts of effects one obtains are subtle and dependent upon longterm application before the golfer notices much. So it sort of depends on the student and their level of commitment to improvement and their openess to new ideas.
Cheers!
Geoff Mangum
The PuttingZone
http://puttingzone.com
Golf's most advanced and compreehensive putting instruction.