ROBERT McNeil writes that research by a Dr Paul Piff of the University of California shows that being awestruck shifts our focus away from our own selfish needs towards the greater good and helps us to behave more socially ("Heid-the-awe rather than awesome", The Herald, May 25 ).

Not for me it doesn't, and I guess for many other golf fans in these parts, when listening to the inane and repeated calls of "awesome" by American spectators of the noble game drives me to thoughts of inflicting grievous bodily harm on the perpetrators.

R Russell Smith,

96 Milton Road,

Kilbirnie.