This paper examines whether gender or skill influence the efficacy of mental practice (MP) to improve motor task performance.  Research using golf puttng performance has found greater performance benefits for males than females with the use of MP and other psychological skills interventions, though skill or experience may explain the differences.  This study used males and females of high and low putting skill in order to disentangle the effects due to gender with those due to skill or experience in putting.  The results of the analysis showed that subjects skill level rather than gender accounted for the MP effects on performance.  These skill level findings with MP are discussed in relation to the preperformance strategies used by many of the more experienced golfers.