ABSTRACT
Historically within golf education programmes (as in many other sports coaching programmes), coaches have been trained and educated along bioscientific lines – a focus on the ‘what’ of coaching. Coaching has been represented as “an apolitical, unemotional and rationalistic activity underpinned by technical, tactical and bio-scientific knowledge and methods” (Toner et al., 2012, p. 67). This overfocus on technical issues has relegated other important areas of coach development and understanding – the ‘how’ of coaching – to a much smaller, subsidiary role (Jones, 2011). It could be argued that this focus has led to a coaching culture that is predominantly technical and coach-centred, rather than one that is flexible, meeting the wants and needs of the individual golfer. However, while programmes are still inherently bioscientific in nature, there is an increasing realisation of the need to focus upon the individual and the skills of social engagement. After all, coaching does not happen in a social vacuum; rather, it is a humanistic pursuit, one that is above all “an interactive, communal endeavour: a social practice” (Jones, 2011, p. 3). This chapter will explore the research evidence that suggests that golf coaching per se needs to move from a coach-centred model to a participant-centred approach, one that could be described as being ‘socially constructed’.
