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.