Bringing golf into sport psychology sessions through technology (video-footage)

Abstract

Technology has entered many spheres of modern day society. The sport context has also been infiltrated by technology, as can be seen in how video-footage is used in coaching, biomechanics, as well as umpiring/refereeing. This research focused on using video-footage during sport psychology sessions in golf. Stage 1 entailed the videotaping of six golfers from the Tshwane University of Technology’s Golf Academy (TUTGA) during a practice session. During Stage 2 the six golfers viewed the video-footage that was made of the practice session, and indicated what they deemed relevant to be discussed during one-to-one sport psychology sessions. Stage 3 entailed one-to-one sport psychology sessions informed by narrative practice with the six golfers respectively, during which the identified material from Stage 2 was discussed. During Stage 4 a focus group session was held with the six golfers during which they were asked to narrate their experiences of being videotaped during a practice session, as well as discuss this video-footage during one-to-one sport psychology sessions. These focus group discussions were videotaped, transcribed and analyzed through a process of narrative analysis. It seems that using video-footage allowed the golfers to voice their specific sport psychology needs, which allowed for their specific needs to be addressed collaboratively (between a sport psychologist and golfer) in a contextual manner. Therefore, from this study it seems that using video-footage during sport psychology sessions with golfers, added value to the sport psychology process.