Mental Toughness and Motivation Among Amateur Golfers in Malaysia

Abstract

Sports psychology is a field that involves the observation of behaviour and how it affects sports performance. This research examines the levels of mental toughness and motivation in relation with the performance and achievement of amateur golfers in Malaysia. The sample consists of 80 amateur golfers who participated in the 48th Malaysian Amateur Closed. Purposive sampling was employed for this study. The Mental Toughness Questionnaire 48 (MTQ 48) was administered to measure mental toughness aspects, which were commitment, control and confidence, while the Sport Motivation Scale 28 (SMS 28) was administered to measure motivation aspects, such as intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation and amotivation. The findings showed that the highest mean score for mental toughness aspect was commitment followed by confidence. Meanwhile, the highest mean score for motivation aspect was intrinsic motivation followed by extrinsic motivation. The findings of this study have implications for coaches, sports psychologists and athletes themselves in understanding the importance of psychology aspects towards achieving their goals. It is recommended that future studies in this area should examine a larger sample from different types of sports.