| This study asks: How can depth psychology transform sport psychology, specifically in golf? Employing a dialogical, hermeneutic method, this theoretical dissertation establishes three bodies of literature and places them in dialog. The initial body is a review of published writings on traditional sport psychology in golf, and in the second, selected theories of depth psychology are explored in the context of sport psychology. Finally, the text is introduced as the third body---a combination of The Legend of Bagger Vance, a golf novel by Stephen Pressfield (1995), and the mythic, Hindu poem, the Bhagavad Gita.;The literature of today's sport psychology in golf is primarily ego psychology and is ill equipped to address such complex subjects as the mysterious zone of peak performance or holding it together under pressure, the antithesis of falling apart or choking. To explore these topics, this work imaginatively amplifies two fictional stories, creating a conversation between both traditional sport psychology and selected depth psychological concepts.;Emerging from this dialog are ideas that can be applied to sport psychology in golf, creating a depth-sport psychology. One of the key concepts is that, under stress, a golfer does not hold it together by will-power or desire, but is actually held together by a trans-personal dynamic. The transcendent function helps explain this mystery, as does the ego-Self axis theory by Edward Edinger (1972).;A new image of the zone emerges: the psyche-centered zone of peak performance, a state of conscious transcendence. In this model, the zone is differentiated into three levels---the pre-personal or level 2, the personal or level 3, and the transpersonal or level 4. Implied in this theory is that the zone is developmental in nature, and that a golfer's level of consciousness and ego development determine the level of the zone in which he or she plays.;Because golf is not played against an opponent, as in tennis, baseball, or basketball, but often against the Self, depth psychology is particularly well suited to be applied to the game. The unconscious and its many manifestations play a major role in the golfing experience, and golfers who understand and align with the Self will play up to their skill level more consistently. Liberated from excessive anxiety and the fear of choking under pressure, the conscious golfer is truly free to play the game in a state of natural transcendence. |
