Using Mental Skills to Improve Golfing Performance: A Theory-Based Case Study for Golf Coaches

Abstract

The manner in which golfers think on the golf course significantly influences their performance. In 2008, the author provided an overview of golf-specific mental skills with the intention of raising golf coaches' awareness of psychological techniques they could use to help their golfers think more effectively. The aim of this paper is to follow up the author's overview by providing an introduction to mental skills interventions, specifically focusing on how they can be tailored to individual golfer's needs, and how they can be applied, analysed, and evaluated to facilitate the performance of competitive golfers. This five-part paper will: 1) outline the current state of formal mental skills education among golf coaches; 2) introduce selected theories that underpin mental skills interventions; 3) address the role of golf coaches in delivering these interventions; 4) suggest some frameworks which might help to increase the effectiveness of these interventions; and 5) illustrate the practical application of these theories and frameworks by describing a mental skills intervention that was used with a tour-level golfer to improve playing performance.