Introduction

I have been trading for eight years now. I have had my good times and my bad ones too. I’m starting this to get all the thoughts that roll around this head of mine into one place. I have never laid out what I would consider a true trading plan. That’s what this is all for. One thing that I’ve noticed over the years is that there is a very close correlation between trading and golf. When I trade I try to use what I have learned from golf and vise versa. So my idea is to combine the two. I’m basically renaming some very common trading strategies that I have come to trust over the years to relate them to the game of golf. I have no idea why I’m doing it this way except it might be fun.
For you traders out there that don’t play golf I’ll give you some quotes about the game and you can see what I mean.

• “Golf is a game that is played on a five-inch course – the distance between your ears.” – Bobby Jones

• “I’m about five inches from being an outstanding golfer. That’s the distance my left ear is from my right.” – Ben Crenshaw

• “Golf is like a love affair. If you don’t take it seriously, it’s no fun; if you do take it seriously, it breaks your heart.” – Arthur Daley

• “Forget your opponents; always play against par.” – Sam Snead

• “What other people may find in poetry or art museums, I find in the flight of a good drive.” – Arnold Palmer

• “Golf gives you an insight into human nature, your own as well as your opponent’s.” – Grantland Rice

• “Playing the game I have learned the meaning of humility. It has given me an understanding of futility of the human effort.” – Abba Eban

• “One of the most fasinating things about golf is how it reflects the cycle of life. No matter what you shoot – the next day you have to go back to the first tee and begin all over again and make yourself into something.” – Peter Jacobsen

• “You have to play the ball as it lies, a fact that may help to touch on your own objective approach to life.” – Grantland Rice

• “Golf isn’t like other sports where you can take a player out if he’s having a bad day. You have to play the whole game.” – Phil Blackmar

• “Golf is the cruelest game, because eventually it will drag you out in front of the whole school, take your lunch money and slap you around.” – Rick Reilly

• “Golf is an open exhibition of overweening ambition, courage deflated by stupidity, skill scoured by a whiff of arrogance.” – Alistair Cooke

• “The average golfer doesn’t play golf. He attacks it.” – Jack Burke

• “If you wish to hide your character, do not play golf.” – Percey Boomer

• “Reverse every natural instinct and do the opposite of what you are inclined to do, and you will probably come very close to having a perfect golf swing.” – Ben Hogan

• “Golf can best be defined as an endless series of tragedies obscured by the occasional miracle.” – Unknown

As you can see one could replace the word “golf” with the word “trading” in most of these quotes.