Dissertation on golf performance - any help much appreciated!

[Gabzy]

Hello guys,

I'm currently working on my Sport Psychology dissertation and would very much appreciate it if you could lend me a hand. I'm trying to determine whether anxiety and self-confidence have an impact on golf performance, and in order to do this I need to find as many people as possible to fill in a couple of questionnaires before they next get on the golf course.

If you would like to help me out and take part, just send me a message with your email address and I'll email the questionnaires to you. It is quite important that you fill in the questionnaires as close in time to your next golf performance as possible.

So if anyone is planning on hitting the course this weekend and wouldn't mind sparing 5 minutes of their time, your help would be very much appreciated.

Thanks

 

[KeefG]

Why do i get the feeling that any questionnaire is going to mess with my head and make me feel worse about how i'm playing and question everything i do?

I've heard about you sports psychologists, you all pratice wicken and stick pins in dolls....hang on, thats witch doctors isnt it? Ah well, one & the same....

 

[Gabzy]

I promise you it'll be fine!

They are two simple questionnaires which just aim to find out how you feel (physically and mentally) before hitting the course. There is some previous research which shows that feeling anxious before playing golf or having low confidence in your ability can have a negative affect on performance as golf is a sport which requires fine motor skills, but then there is other research which finds that it doesn't really have that much of an impact. So I'm just trying to draw my own conclusions

 

[ricardodaintino]

I assume you've read the Bob Rotella books. He is a massive advocate of the Subconscious self image and confidence leading to performance.

 

[davidmac00]

Gabzy,

Most of the folks in the golf trade will fill in the questionaires themselves (left handed, right handed, different coloured inks and the like) to get the answer that suits their agenda!

I personally feel that if you learn to hit the ball well you will be confident in your golfing abilities without outside/ inside help! Just my opinion.

If you are going to quiz folk, maybe try the local range midweek (evenings), speak to management and see if its ok to hand out questionaires to people entering and collect from them leaving. Maybe offer a prize (6 balls, discounted by pro?) as an incentive?

Good luck,
David McCallum.

 

[USER1999]

I don't need a questionnaire, if I am nervous, I play bad golf, Confident and happy, good golf.

What's the mystery?

I would have thought it was the same in any sport. It is in how we deal with the nerves that defines us. If you don't feel a bit nervous, you don't care enough about the outcome.

The interesting thing is how to turn it around, ie: nervy start to a confident state. That is the hard part.

 

[hopeful]

For me, how I'm feeling before the game doesn't seem to make a h'aporth of difference on the day. I literally do not have a clue how my game is actually going to pan out, I'm that inconsistent. Dr Bob reckons this is largely due to not sticking to your pre-shot routine and, yes, I think that does help but in my case it sure don't guarantee a good consistent round. Typically, last week I took 56 on the way out including two nines & an eight!!... then made 45 on the way in with nothing worse than a double-b on a par 5. ( That's good form for me!) Perhaps I should just gracefully accept that my hand-eye coordonation is unfavourably comparable to Frank Spencer's?

 

[RGuk]

I'm trying to determine whether anxiety and self-confidence have an impact on golf performance

Is the Pope Catholic? it's an easy answer.

I'd have thought the questionnaire will answer itself.

Sounds to me like GCSE....

- - - -

Nothing personal (I don't mind the post) but I gave this type of thing a wide berth during my degrees. People that spend time trying to gain an edge fooling themselves into thinking that analysing themselves will solve problems and challenges are wasting valuable practice and experience time.

Technique, practice and experience in the heat of performance are what it's all about. The more you do it, the less your performance is affected by nerves or anxiety.

 

[HTL]

The interesting thing is how to turn it around, ie: nervy start to a confident state. That is the hard part.

You just need to realise that being nervous is your body getting ready for a brilliant performance.

 

[USER1999]

Or a rubbish one.

 

[viscount17]

The interesting thing is how to turn it around, ie: nervy start to a confident state. That is the hard part.

You just need to realise that being nervous is your body getting ready for a brilliant performance.

being nervous is . . .
. . . your body's way of telling you to think again!