Fairway Case Study
Choking in Sports
Angela, an avid golfer whose scores usually hovered above ninety, saw her chance to break through into the eighties as she approached the par-four 18th hole. She only needed to shoot a bogey to achieve a career-record 89. Reaching the green in regulation, she four-putted and carded a double bogey, missing her target score by a mere one stroke.
Tracie, a fairly new golfer, had completed a set of lessons and a few rounds on the green when her instructor convinced her to take part in an amateur ladies ' tournament. She told herself to just keep her first shot in the fairway so as not to embarrass herself in front of her more experienced flight-mates. On the first tee, she yanked three drives out of bounds and felt herself dissolve into jelly. …show more content…
Veteran professional Greg Norman began the final round of the 1996 Masters tournament with a commanding six-shot lead ahead of closest competitor, Nick Faldo. By the ninth hole, he had dropped four shots to lead by two. On the back nine, he continued to fritter away the lead, carding another three bogeys and two doubles to see the green jacket slipping away from his grasp.
Regardless of their varying levels of play, all three golfers described above have one thing in common. They can all be described to have “choked under pressure”.
What is “choking under pressure” and when does it occur?
“Choking under pressure” is a commonly used expression in sport settings, describing the situation in which an individual fails to perform up to par despite being motivated by personal or situational demands to do so (Baumeister, 1984). According to Baumeister, pressure refers to any factor or combination of factors that heightens the need to perform well in a particular situation, while choking refers to a decrement in performance under such situations.
Choking under pressure is essentially an attentional problem, that is, a shift in attentional focus to inappropriate cues, causing performance to falter. It typically occurs in situations in which athletes place emotional importance to the performance outcomes, such as in competitions (Weinberg & Gould, 2003). A model of the choking process was proposed by Nideffer (1993, as cited in Weinberg & Gould), which suggests that when triggered (often at crucial moments in a competition), choking causes physiological (increased muscle tension, heart rate and breathing) and attentional (focus becomes internal and narrow) changes. These changes, in turn, lead to performance impairment.
Further, two competing types of mechanisms have been proposed to account for the choking phenomenon – distraction theories and self-focus theories (Lewis & Linder, 1997; Beilock & Carr, 2001). Distraction theories propose that pressure causes one to be distracted and shift attentional focus to task-irrelevant cues; while self-focus theories suggest that pressure causes one to be more self-conscious and shift attention to skill processes (Beilock & Carr). Applying these theories in a golf putting situation, distraction theory proposes that a golfer facing a five-foot putt to save par may become distracted by the consequences of missing the putt and losing the hole; while the self-focus theory dictates that the same golfer will become anxious and start thinking about what exactly he must feel and do to control the putting action. Both potentially cause choking to occur.
Self-focus theories found support in several research findings. Wallace, Baumeister and Vohs (2005) explained that when performance outcome is perceived to be important, the athlete is more motivated to do well and puts in more effort. However, paradoxically, this increase in effort has detrimental effects when the athlete tries to consciously control aspects of a well-practised skill that is usually automatic. Thus choking tends to occur in a skilled performance such as a golf swing, rather than an effort-based performance such as sprinting. Linder, Lutz, Crews, and Lochbaum (1998) found that golfers with high self-perception and hence high expectations about themselves tend to monitor their own performances more carefully and subsequently perform poorly. Golfers who were exposed previously to other competitive sports were able to perform better under pressure, as they were better adapted to self-focused attention (Linder, Lutz, Crews and Lochbaum).
Research has shown that choking under pressure tends to occur in a skilled performance when there is the presence of audience support (Schlenker, Phillips, Boniecki and Schlenker, 1995; Butler and Baumeister, 1998; Wallace, Baumeister and Vohs, 2005). A supportive audience refers to anyone who wants the performer to succeed and expresses that wish to the performer, for example, a fan who dons clothing with the athlete’s name or a team-mate who cheers the athlete on. Apparently the presence of a supportive audience creates pressure on athletes by increasing the costs of failure (e.g. losing support, causing disappointment in others), and athletes may become overly-cautious in their skill execution, leading to increased self-focus and subsequently choking (Wallace, Baumeister and Vohs). Arnold Palmer seemed to testify to this audience support effect with the following excerpt:
“After a great drive my friends in the gallery came up to slap me on the back. I couldn’t miss. All I needed was a par four for victory, a five for a tie. With these thoughts in mind I hit my seven-iron, came off the shot and pushed it into the same bunker Gary had been in. Then I blasted over the green, putted 15 feet past the cup and missed the return.” (Palmer, as cited in Glover and Higgs, 2000, p.99).
Taken together, existing literature on the choking phenomenon suggest that choking is likely to occur when one perceives a performance outcome to be important, which increases pressure to succeed. This in turn leads the athlete to direct attentional focus towards the self, creating more self-consciousness and increasing effort, which complicates a normally automatic task execution, leading to performance impairment. Combined with physiological responses such as racing heart rate, sweaty palms, shallow breathing, the athlete often succumbs to pressure. This phenomenon can explain why many golfers, professionals or amateurs, falter in a technically simple task such as putting from three feet. Be it in a team event in which team mates are eagerly anticipating the success of one’s putting task to win the match, or in a friendly round where one just wants to put the ball on the fairway to save oneself from embarrassment, most golfers find themselves in a potentially choking moment from time to time. The following intervention techniques aim to help golfers avoid the much dreaded choke.
Direct appropriate attentional focus at appropriate times
Using Nideffer and Sagals’ (1998) four types of attention styles (i.e. internal attention, external attention, narrow attention and broad attention), golfers can identify specific situations during a competition round in which they must use the appropriate attention style. This will help them focus their attention only on the most important and useful information, ignoring irrelevant cues. For example, when standing on the first tee-box, a golfer needs to scan the environment using a broad-external focus so that he is aware of the course conditions (e.g. where the hazards are, direction of the wind). Next he switches to a broad-internal focus to formulate a plan in playing the shot, including deciding which club to use and where to aim the ball. He may then turn to a narrow-internal focus to monitor his body tension or regulate his breathing, or mentally rehearse his shot. Finally as he addresses the ball, he shifts to a narrow-external focus, only attending to one or two cues such as keeping the concentration on the ball, as he executes the shot. This last step of shifting attentional focus away from narrow-internal, to narrow-external is important in reducing self-consciousness, which has been shown to induce choking as discussed above.
As golf is essentially a skill performance in which the golfer sets his own pace throughout the skill execution, golfers can train themselves to routinely go through the attention phases each time they tee up. This can help to reduce unwanted and unnecessary focus on the wrong cues at each stage of the skill performance, reducing the tendency to choke under pressure.
Establish a pre-performance routine
Many golfers tend to give themselves self-induced pressure by racing their minds ahead and thinking about consequences. For example, “I just need another par and I’ll break ninety”, or “If I slice this shot again I’ll be the joke of the day during lunch.” Golf is unlike most other sports in which the athlete has to react to the ball. The golfer has to make the ball react and there is too much time to think. It is important to stay grounded in the moment so as not to let the mind wander and create more pressure by thinking of “what-if” scenarios.
Establishing a pre-performance routine can help golfers concentrate on the present moment rather than worry about the future. A pre-performance routine helps by keeping distractions away before and during performance, and allows the performance to be automatically executed without the performer consciously trying to control it (Weinberg and Gould, 2003). As Tiger Woods described:
“Great players operate ‘in the moment’. In other words, they never get ahead of themselves…One of the reasons why I’m able to hit good shots is because I go through the same routine…It helps me remain calm and in the present, prepared to execute a shot to the best of my ability” (Woods, 2001, p.238).
Lessen the importance of the moment
When golfers place too much emotional importance on the performance outcome, pressure escalates and the whole choking process begins. Thus golfers should aim to keep things in perspective and not treat each shot with a “make or break” mentality. Top female golfer, Annika Sorenstam, knew that she could not let the importance of a victory at a major championship overwhelm her: “I wanted to approach it like it was any other week. I was just thinking, 'Pretend it 's not the Open. Try not to think about the consequences of this tournament and enjoy yourself. ' I think I did pretty good." (Soremstam, 2006).
Focus on the process, not outcome
Golfers can make use of process cues, which are thoughts on the process of performance, to help them focus on the process of performing rather than the importance of the outcome (Nideffer and Sagal, 1998). For example, when teeing up for the first shot, the golfer can think about producing a smooth, rhythmic swing instead of driving the ball 200 yards. The idea is that golfers will learn that when they consistently attend to the process cues, the outcome will take care of itself, hence eliminating the need to worry about the outcome.
Conclusion
Choking under pressure is often an occurrence that golfers are reluctant to admit, but it is a concern that needs to be addressed through increased awareness and training. Coaches need to be aware that helping athletes improve their technical skills is not enough, as an optimal mental state is crucial for the athletes to achieve peak performance. As Wang, Callahan, and Goldfine (2003) described: “many athletes are readily physically trained but they routinely ignore psychological training. As a consequence, many elite athletes fail during competition because of a lack of mental control.” (p. 69).
References
Basmeister, R. F. (1984). Choking under pressure: self-conciousness and paradoxical effects of incentives on skilful performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46(3), 610-620.
Beilock, S.
L., & Carr, T. H. (2001). On the fragility of skilled performance: what governs choking under pressure? Journal of Experimental Psychology, 130(4), 701-725.
Butler, J. L., & Baumeister, R. F. (1998). The trouble with friendly faces: skilled performance with a supportive audience. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75(5), 1213-1230.
Glover, T., & Higgs, P. (2000). Fairway to Heaven. Victors and Victims of Golf’s Choking Game (2nd ed.). Edinburg and London: Mainstream Publishing. Lewis, B. P., & Linder, D. E. (1997). Thinking about choking? Attentional processes and paradoxical performance. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 23(9), 937-944.
Linder, D., Lutz, R., Crews, D., & Lochbaum, M. (1998). Who chokes and when? Situational and dispositional factors in failure under pressure. In: M. R. Farrally and A. J. Cockran (Eds.), Science and Golf III: Proceedings of the World Scientific Congress of Golf (pp. 207-212). St Andrew. Champaign (IL): Human Kinetics.
Nideffer, R. M., & Sagal, M. (1998). Concentration and attention control training. In: Applied Sport Psychology: Personal Growth to Peak Performance (3rd ed.). J. M. Williams, ed. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Publishing
Company.
Schlenker, B. R., Phillips, S. T., Boniecki, K. A., & Schlenker, D. R. (1995). Championship pressures: choking or triumphing in one’s own territory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68(4), 632-643.
Soremstam, A. (2006). In Soremstam’s third title comes after decade- long wait. Retrieved March 9, 2006, from http://sports.espn.go.com/golf/news/story?id=2508231
Wang, J., Callahan, D., & Goldfine, B. (2003). Choking under pressure in competition and psychological intervention approaches. Strength and Conditioning Journal, 25(5), 69-75.
Weinberg, R. S., & Gould, D. (2003). Foundations of Sport & Exercise Psychology (3rd ed.). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
Woods, T. (2001). How I Play Golf. New York: Warner Books.
Angela, an avid golfer whose scores usually hovered above ninety, saw her chance to break through into the eighties as she approached the par-four 18th hole. She only needed to shoot a bogey to achieve a career-record 89. Reaching the green in regulation, she four-putted and carded a double bogey, missing her target score by a mere one stroke.
Tracie, a fairly new golfer, had completed a set of lessons and a few rounds on the green when her instructor convinced her to take part in an amateur ladies ' tournament. She told herself to just keep her first shot in the fairway so as not to embarrass herself in front of her more experienced flight-mates. On the first tee, she yanked three drives out of bounds and felt herself dissolve into jelly. …show more content…
Veteran professional Greg Norman began the final round of the 1996 Masters tournament with a commanding six-shot lead ahead of closest competitor, Nick Faldo. By the ninth hole, he had dropped four shots to lead by two. On the back nine, he continued to fritter away the lead, carding another three bogeys and two doubles to see the green jacket slipping away from his grasp.
Regardless of their varying levels of play, all three golfers described above have one thing in common. They can all be described to have “choked under pressure”.
What is “choking under pressure” and when does it occur?
“Choking under pressure” is a commonly used expression in sport settings, describing the situation in which an individual fails to perform up to par despite being motivated by personal or situational demands to do so (Baumeister, 1984). According to Baumeister, pressure refers to any factor or combination of factors that heightens the need to perform well in a particular situation, while choking refers to a decrement in performance under such situations.
Choking under pressure is essentially an attentional problem, that is, a shift in attentional focus to inappropriate cues, causing performance to falter. It typically occurs in situations in which athletes place emotional importance to the performance outcomes, such as in competitions (Weinberg & Gould, 2003). A model of the choking process was proposed by Nideffer (1993, as cited in Weinberg & Gould), which suggests that when triggered (often at crucial moments in a competition), choking causes physiological (increased muscle tension, heart rate and breathing) and attentional (focus becomes internal and narrow) changes. These changes, in turn, lead to performance impairment.
Further, two competing types of mechanisms have been proposed to account for the choking phenomenon – distraction theories and self-focus theories (Lewis & Linder, 1997; Beilock & Carr, 2001). Distraction theories propose that pressure causes one to be distracted and shift attentional focus to task-irrelevant cues; while self-focus theories suggest that pressure causes one to be more self-conscious and shift attention to skill processes (Beilock & Carr). Applying these theories in a golf putting situation, distraction theory proposes that a golfer facing a five-foot putt to save par may become distracted by the consequences of missing the putt and losing the hole; while the self-focus theory dictates that the same golfer will become anxious and start thinking about what exactly he must feel and do to control the putting action. Both potentially cause choking to occur.
Self-focus theories found support in several research findings. Wallace, Baumeister and Vohs (2005) explained that when performance outcome is perceived to be important, the athlete is more motivated to do well and puts in more effort. However, paradoxically, this increase in effort has detrimental effects when the athlete tries to consciously control aspects of a well-practised skill that is usually automatic. Thus choking tends to occur in a skilled performance such as a golf swing, rather than an effort-based performance such as sprinting. Linder, Lutz, Crews, and Lochbaum (1998) found that golfers with high self-perception and hence high expectations about themselves tend to monitor their own performances more carefully and subsequently perform poorly. Golfers who were exposed previously to other competitive sports were able to perform better under pressure, as they were better adapted to self-focused attention (Linder, Lutz, Crews and Lochbaum).
Research has shown that choking under pressure tends to occur in a skilled performance when there is the presence of audience support (Schlenker, Phillips, Boniecki and Schlenker, 1995; Butler and Baumeister, 1998; Wallace, Baumeister and Vohs, 2005). A supportive audience refers to anyone who wants the performer to succeed and expresses that wish to the performer, for example, a fan who dons clothing with the athlete’s name or a team-mate who cheers the athlete on. Apparently the presence of a supportive audience creates pressure on athletes by increasing the costs of failure (e.g. losing support, causing disappointment in others), and athletes may become overly-cautious in their skill execution, leading to increased self-focus and subsequently choking (Wallace, Baumeister and Vohs). Arnold Palmer seemed to testify to this audience support effect with the following excerpt:
“After a great drive my friends in the gallery came up to slap me on the back. I couldn’t miss. All I needed was a par four for victory, a five for a tie. With these thoughts in mind I hit my seven-iron, came off the shot and pushed it into the same bunker Gary had been in. Then I blasted over the green, putted 15 feet past the cup and missed the return.” (Palmer, as cited in Glover and Higgs, 2000, p.99).
Taken together, existing literature on the choking phenomenon suggest that choking is likely to occur when one perceives a performance outcome to be important, which increases pressure to succeed. This in turn leads the athlete to direct attentional focus towards the self, creating more self-consciousness and increasing effort, which complicates a normally automatic task execution, leading to performance impairment. Combined with physiological responses such as racing heart rate, sweaty palms, shallow breathing, the athlete often succumbs to pressure. This phenomenon can explain why many golfers, professionals or amateurs, falter in a technically simple task such as putting from three feet. Be it in a team event in which team mates are eagerly anticipating the success of one’s putting task to win the match, or in a friendly round where one just wants to put the ball on the fairway to save oneself from embarrassment, most golfers find themselves in a potentially choking moment from time to time. The following intervention techniques aim to help golfers avoid the much dreaded choke.
Direct appropriate attentional focus at appropriate times
Using Nideffer and Sagals’ (1998) four types of attention styles (i.e. internal attention, external attention, narrow attention and broad attention), golfers can identify specific situations during a competition round in which they must use the appropriate attention style. This will help them focus their attention only on the most important and useful information, ignoring irrelevant cues. For example, when standing on the first tee-box, a golfer needs to scan the environment using a broad-external focus so that he is aware of the course conditions (e.g. where the hazards are, direction of the wind). Next he switches to a broad-internal focus to formulate a plan in playing the shot, including deciding which club to use and where to aim the ball. He may then turn to a narrow-internal focus to monitor his body tension or regulate his breathing, or mentally rehearse his shot. Finally as he addresses the ball, he shifts to a narrow-external focus, only attending to one or two cues such as keeping the concentration on the ball, as he executes the shot. This last step of shifting attentional focus away from narrow-internal, to narrow-external is important in reducing self-consciousness, which has been shown to induce choking as discussed above.
As golf is essentially a skill performance in which the golfer sets his own pace throughout the skill execution, golfers can train themselves to routinely go through the attention phases each time they tee up. This can help to reduce unwanted and unnecessary focus on the wrong cues at each stage of the skill performance, reducing the tendency to choke under pressure.
Establish a pre-performance routine
Many golfers tend to give themselves self-induced pressure by racing their minds ahead and thinking about consequences. For example, “I just need another par and I’ll break ninety”, or “If I slice this shot again I’ll be the joke of the day during lunch.” Golf is unlike most other sports in which the athlete has to react to the ball. The golfer has to make the ball react and there is too much time to think. It is important to stay grounded in the moment so as not to let the mind wander and create more pressure by thinking of “what-if” scenarios.
Establishing a pre-performance routine can help golfers concentrate on the present moment rather than worry about the future. A pre-performance routine helps by keeping distractions away before and during performance, and allows the performance to be automatically executed without the performer consciously trying to control it (Weinberg and Gould, 2003). As Tiger Woods described:
“Great players operate ‘in the moment’. In other words, they never get ahead of themselves…One of the reasons why I’m able to hit good shots is because I go through the same routine…It helps me remain calm and in the present, prepared to execute a shot to the best of my ability” (Woods, 2001, p.238).
Lessen the importance of the moment
When golfers place too much emotional importance on the performance outcome, pressure escalates and the whole choking process begins. Thus golfers should aim to keep things in perspective and not treat each shot with a “make or break” mentality. Top female golfer, Annika Sorenstam, knew that she could not let the importance of a victory at a major championship overwhelm her: “I wanted to approach it like it was any other week. I was just thinking, 'Pretend it 's not the Open. Try not to think about the consequences of this tournament and enjoy yourself. ' I think I did pretty good." (Soremstam, 2006).
Focus on the process, not outcome
Golfers can make use of process cues, which are thoughts on the process of performance, to help them focus on the process of performing rather than the importance of the outcome (Nideffer and Sagal, 1998). For example, when teeing up for the first shot, the golfer can think about producing a smooth, rhythmic swing instead of driving the ball 200 yards. The idea is that golfers will learn that when they consistently attend to the process cues, the outcome will take care of itself, hence eliminating the need to worry about the outcome.
Conclusion
Choking under pressure is often an occurrence that golfers are reluctant to admit, but it is a concern that needs to be addressed through increased awareness and training. Coaches need to be aware that helping athletes improve their technical skills is not enough, as an optimal mental state is crucial for the athletes to achieve peak performance. As Wang, Callahan, and Goldfine (2003) described: “many athletes are readily physically trained but they routinely ignore psychological training. As a consequence, many elite athletes fail during competition because of a lack of mental control.” (p. 69).
References
Basmeister, R. F. (1984). Choking under pressure: self-conciousness and paradoxical effects of incentives on skilful performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46(3), 610-620.
Beilock, S.
L., & Carr, T. H. (2001). On the fragility of skilled performance: what governs choking under pressure? Journal of Experimental Psychology, 130(4), 701-725.
Butler, J. L., & Baumeister, R. F. (1998). The trouble with friendly faces: skilled performance with a supportive audience. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75(5), 1213-1230.
Glover, T., & Higgs, P. (2000). Fairway to Heaven. Victors and Victims of Golf’s Choking Game (2nd ed.). Edinburg and London: Mainstream Publishing. Lewis, B. P., & Linder, D. E. (1997). Thinking about choking? Attentional processes and paradoxical performance. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 23(9), 937-944.
Linder, D., Lutz, R., Crews, D., & Lochbaum, M. (1998). Who chokes and when? Situational and dispositional factors in failure under pressure. In: M. R. Farrally and A. J. Cockran (Eds.), Science and Golf III: Proceedings of the World Scientific Congress of Golf (pp. 207-212). St Andrew. Champaign (IL): Human Kinetics.
Nideffer, R. M., & Sagal, M. (1998). Concentration and attention control training. In: Applied Sport Psychology: Personal Growth to Peak Performance (3rd ed.). J. M. Williams, ed. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Publishing
Company.
Schlenker, B. R., Phillips, S. T., Boniecki, K. A., & Schlenker, D. R. (1995). Championship pressures: choking or triumphing in one’s own territory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68(4), 632-643.
Soremstam, A. (2006). In Soremstam’s third title comes after decade- long wait. Retrieved March 9, 2006, from http://sports.espn.go.com/golf/news/story?id=2508231
Wang, J., Callahan, D., & Goldfine, B. (2003). Choking under pressure in competition and psychological intervention approaches. Strength and Conditioning Journal, 25(5), 69-75.
Weinberg, R. S., & Gould, D. (2003). Foundations of Sport & Exercise Psychology (3rd ed.). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
Woods, T. (2001). How I Play Golf. New York: Warner Books.