Influences of anxiety on golf performance: a field test of catastrophe theory

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to test the basic tenets of Fazey and Hardy's (1988) catastrophe model. Specifically, the purpose was to examine the interaction effects of cognitive anxiety (worry) and physiological arousal (activation) on golf performance. Four amateur golfers were tested using the Sport Grid-Revised (Ward & Cox, 2001) incompetitive play. Physiological arousal and cognitive anxiety ratings as well as performance measures were collected prior to each golf shot taken in four competitive rounds for each of the participants. Multiple regression procedures were utilized to analyze the data. In the linear analyses of all participants, it can be observed that Wor has a significant negative effect on golf performance. No evidence for catastrophe theory was observed in the analyses of the full model of all participants.