Relating Competitive Golfers' Perceived Emotions and Performance

Area of Science:

• Sports Psychology
• Performance Psychology
• Motor Control

Background:

• Understanding the interplay between psychological factors and athletic performance is crucial for optimizing outcomes.
• Golfers' emotional states, coping mechanisms, and perceived control may significantly influence their performance during competition.
• Previous research has explored these relationships, but a dynamic, hole-by-hole analysis in an ecologically valid setting is less common.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the real-time relationships between golfers' emotions, task-oriented coping, perceived control, and performance within a competitive round.
• To differentiate between within-person (dynamic) and between-person (trait-level) influences on performance.
• To examine the moderating role of player skill level on the emotion-performance relationship.

Main Methods:

• A process-oriented golf analysis was employed, collecting data hole-by-hole during a competitive round.
• Participants self-reported on emotions (irritability, nervousness, tension), task-oriented coping, and perceived control.
• A two-level Bayesian multivariate autoregressive model was utilized to analyze the complex relationships.

Main Results:

• Within individuals, negative emotions and task-oriented coping were found to be reactions to performance on the preceding hole.
• Between individuals, higher player skill levels were associated with better golf scores.
• Player skill level also predicted a greater ability to mitigate the impact of negative affect on performance.

Conclusions:

• The relationship between emotions and performance in golf is dynamic and reciprocal, influenced by both immediate performance feedback and individual skill.
• Psychological interventions aimed at optimizing performance should consider the temporal dynamics of emotions and coping, as well as individual differences in skill.
• Future research should continue to employ ecologically valid designs to further elucidate these complex interactions and potential moderating factors.