Emotions and golf performance: An IZOF-based applied sport psychology case study.

Two college golfers met with a sport psychologist every week.

The coach taught them to notice their feelings before each shot.

Together they built personal “best feeling” zones using the IZOF model.

Practice drills helped the athletes stay inside those zones during play.

Both golfers learned to keep their arousal and mood in the green zone.

When feelings stayed in range, their scores dropped and play felt easier.

The case shows self-management training can link emotion control to better sport numbers.

Barker et al. (2020) pooled 40 single-case sport studies and found big effects for PST, but warn that short baselines pump the numbers.

Our 2006 case is one of those short-baseline studies, so the glow may be partly inflated.

Matson et al. (2004) map 30 years of SCED sport work; this golfer study adds a fresh IZOF data point to that sparse map.

Schertz et al. (2018) also taught brief emotion skills to college students and saw gains, showing the idea travels beyond golf.

You can borrow the IZOF check-in for any learner who chokes under pressure.

Have the athlete rate “too low-just right-too high” before and after three baseline trials.

Then teach one micro-skill—slow exhale, cue word, or shoulder drop—to steer the rating back to “just right.”

Track the rating and the performance number; if both move together, you have cheap, athlete-owned self-management.