WHY TRADING WILL BUM YOU OUT AS MUCH AS GOLF.

“Mike: "In Confessions of a Winning Poker Player, Jack King said, 'Few players recall big pots they have won, strange as it seems, but every player can remember with remarkable accuracy the outstanding tough beats of his career.'" – the Rounders

I was teeing up with a couple buddies one afternoon.  I was licking my wound after having a bad week, actually a bad month in the market. Usually we start drinking before the first tee off and get two or three bloody mary’s by ninth hole.  It keeps me sane by forgetting about all the mistakes I made and all the money I could have made. However, like everything reminds you of your ex after a terrible breakup, everything reminded me of my trading behavior. 

Starting with golf. Golf is, especially the way it’s scored, designed in a way that rewards are limited while penalties are bottomless pit.  A birdie does not feel as good as a bogey and obviously a double bogey. And especially if you shoot low 90’s like I do, out of 90 shots you would be lucky if you had three good shots. 

As hard as it is to be a scatch golfer, it is very difficult to be consistently profitable in the market. Just as hard work and practice will probably not going to make you a scratch player if you do not know the fundamentals, trying hard at trading will not make you a profitable trader if you are using a wrong method.

Good golfers always talk about hitting high percentage shots. Bad golfers always talk about that lucky break, off trees or off cart path. The difference? Good ones approach golf like a card counter. Bad ones approach golf like a drunkard throwing dice at a craps table.

However, good golfers are not happy golfers! Have you ever played with a guy who shot 75 compared to your 92 and got depressed or even angrier than you? I remember the time I shot 2 over front nine and got really excited, changed my mentality and got defensive and had 3 double bogeys in a row. I ended up shooting 87, my best score of the year. And what did I think about? Not seven pars in a row I had, but that shot that I hooked into a pond, that tee shot I chunked with a seven iron.  That bogey putt I missed…. 

Everyone loves hitting the driver.  Nobody practices chipping. Drivers give you hope.  Practicing putting and chipping?  You are basically practicing cleaning up your mistakes after admitting that you made the mistakes. 

Admitting it didn’t work out is half the battle. In golf and in trading. You DO NOT persevere through adversities. Hard work will not guarantee success especially when you are working on hitting the driver only.