The Anxious Golfer's Experience of Mindfulness Meditation
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Authors
Kline, Benjamin H.
Issue Date
2008
Type
Thesis
Language
en
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
This study examined the impact of meditation on two golfer participants in order to understand their experiences and ascertain whether they reported changes in their feelings of anxiety on the golf course as a result of a four-week practice of meditation. The four-week practice included a combination of traditional mindfulness meditation and mindful golf practice. The participants were two recreational, adult golfers who self-identified that anxiety negatively impacted their performance and enjoyment of the sport. They performed 20 minutes each of mindfulness meditation and mindful golf practice daily for four weeks. Afterwards, they played golf and were subsequently interviewed about their golfing experience. The interview consisted of a single question posited by the researcher, which is consistent with descriptive phenomenology, the method of analysis chosen for this thesis. A. Giorgi (1985) describes the descriptive phenomenology psychological method as a means of searching for the essence of a phenomenon while simultaneously adopting a psychological perspective to arrive with the essential structure of the experience being examined. In phenomenological research, the researcher is merely attempting to accurately portray the essential elements of a phenomenon or experience. The analysis showed that golfer experiences were characterized by an increased sense of calmness, an orientation away from result focus toward being more process driven and a positive difference in control of attention. More research with a larger number of participants is warranted to bring deeper understanding to the influence of mindfulness practice to sport. In addition to qualitative research in the area, quantitative study of this phenomenon would provide a contribution to this body of knowledge.