Mindfulness as a strategy to manage anxiety and maintain golf performance under pressure

INTERVENTION: Individually and via tablet or computer, participants will receive: ‐ a short video (less than 5 minutes) normalising anxiety and providing information about acceptance of anxiety as an alternative to control ‐ a section of text (2 paragraphs) linking acceptance and mindfulness to golf performance ‐ a brief audio recording (less than 5 minutes) containing instructions for a mindfulness exercise: a Body Scan exercise from Gardner and Moore (2007) Materials will be developed by a Sport Psychologist with more than 5 years experience in mindfulness and acceptance in sport, and reviewed by two senior researchers in the area. Participants will be exposed to the intervention in a controlled environment while wearing headphones, and be asked to practice mindfulness while the audio recording is playing. They will then be asked to complete the next round of putts while using the skill: "if you become aware of anxiety or doubt coming up, just notice that and focus on the next thing that needs to be done." The timeline and exposure are as follows: ‐Initial questionnaires part 1 ( 5 minutes) ‐Putting measurement at Time 1 (practice putts; 5 minutes) ‐Initial questionnaires part 2 ( 5 minutes) ‐Putting measurement at Time 2 (baseline; 5 minutes) ‐Randomise to either Mindfulness first or Control first ( 15 minutes) ‐Induce pressure ('the following 2 rounds part of competition to earn up to $50') ‐Putting measurement at Time 3 ( 5 minutes) ‐Crossover to either Mindfulness or Control ( 15 minutes)** ‐Putting measurement at Time 4 ( 5 minutes) **While it is not expected that mindfulness will wash out during this time, it is expected that T3 performance differences be eliminated at T4 once the other group receives mindfulness Adherence will be assessed by testing state mindfulness directly after the intervention. CONDITION: Performance Anxiety PRIMARY OUTCOME: Golf performance measured via radial error from a series of targets SECONDARY OUTCOME: State Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (Brown & Ryan, 2003, adapted for 15 minute intervals) State anxiety via CSAI‐2 short form (Cox, Russell & Robb, 1998) The SAM PuttLab biomechanics output describing the degree of match between this golfer's swing and those of a professional INCLUSION CRITERIA: Participants will be required to have a golf handicap registered with a club or with Golf Australia.