Knowing Yourself

Dear Golfers,

Let me ask you something: Have you ever wondered why your playing partner can shake off a triple bogey like it's nothing, while you're still replaying that chunked wedge on the 7th hole during your drive home? Or why some golfers thrive under pressure while others suddenly forget how to hold a club when there's $5 on the line?

The answer might have less to do with your swing mechanics and more to do with something you've been carrying around your whole life: your personality.

Here's the thing nobody tells you when you're taking your first lesson: golf is basically a four-hour personality test that you pay to take. And unlike those assessments you half-heartedly filled out during corporate training, this one has consequences. Real ones. Like whether you're buying drinks at the 19th hole.

But what if I told you that actually understanding your personality—through legitimate assessments, not just your friend Brad calling you "high-strung"—could be the secret weapon you've been looking for?

I'm talking about going beyond the surface-level "I'm competitive" or "I like to have fun" stuff. I mean really digging into what makes you tick, how you process pressure, where your mental energy comes from, and why you make the decisions you do when you're standing over a three-footer with the match on the line.

Look, I get it. When someone suggests taking a personality assessment, you might roll your eyes harder than a ball in a Phil Mickelson flop shot. "Great, another DISC profile to tell me I'm a 'C' personality who likes spreadsheets and proper alignment."

But here's where it gets interesting: these assessments, whether it's Myers-Briggs, Enneagram, StrengthsFinder, or any of the other alphabet soup options—can actually reveal patterns about how you approach challenges, handle stress, and make decisions under pressure.

Sound familiar? That's literally every shot in golf.

Let's break down what knowing your personality can actually do for your game:

Understanding Your Stress Response

Some personalities recharge by internalizing and analyzing. Others need to talk it out (you know who you are, you're the ones giving yourself a full TED Talk after every shot). When you understand whether you're an internal processor or an external one, you can build pre-shot routines that actually work WITH your wiring instead of against it.

If you're an introvert who gets energy from quiet reflection, maybe chattering away at yourself for 18 holes isn't your best strategy. But if you're an extrovert who thrives on external stimulation, playing in silence might actually increase your anxiety. One person's "staying focused" is another person's "slowly losing their mind."

Your Decision-Making Style

Are you someone who needs all the information before pulling the trigger? Or do you trust your gut and fire away? Neither is wrong, but both have implications for your golf game.

The analytical types might struggle with paralysis by analysis, you know, taking six practice swings while calculating wind, elevation, ball position, and whether Mercury is in retrograde. Meanwhile, the intuitive types might hit great shots but have no idea how to replicate them because they never really thought about what they were doing.

Understanding this about yourself means you can build systems that complement your natural tendencies. Analytics need to give themselves permission to trust their prep and pull the trigger. Intuitives need to build just enough structure to be repeatable without killing their flow.

Your Relationship with Failure

This is the big one, folks. How your personality type handles failure will determine about 80% of your golf success. And I'm being conservative with that estimate.

Some personality types are incredibly resilient, they genuinely don't care about bad shots. Others ruminate on mistakes like they're solving a cold case from 1987. Some people need to analyze what went wrong to move on. Others need to forget it ever happened.

Neither is better, but knowing which camp you're in is CRITICAL. If you're a ruminator trying to "just forget about it," you're fighting your nature. You need a different strategy, maybe a quick mental post-mortem that gives your brain closure so it can move on.

Now here's where it gets really interesting: the same personality insights that help your golf game absolutely translate to business. In fact, golf might be the best personality assessment OF business you'll ever take.

Think about it:

How you handle adversity on the course mirrors how you handle business setbacks. Do you get creative when things go sideways, or do you panic and make it worse? That fairway bunker shot when you're already having a rough day? That's basically every Q4 when revenue isn't where you hoped.

Your communication style on the course shows up in client meetings. Are you the person who reads the room and adjusts, or do you stick to your game plan no matter what? Do you need silence to think, or do you think out loud? Your playing partners have already figured this out about you.

Your leadership style is on full display. In a scramble format, do you naturally take charge, defer to others, or try to keep the peace? That's your leadership profile in miniature.

Here's the kicker: when you do the work to understand your personality for golf, you're essentially getting a twofer. You're developing self-awareness that makes you better at literally everything that involves other humans or pressure situations. Which, let me check my notes... is everything.

Okay, so you're sold on the idea. Now what? Do you just take an assessment and hope for golf enlightenment? Not quite.

Step 1: Take a legitimate assessment (or two or three). I'm talking about the ones with actual research behind them, not "Which golf club are you?" quizzes on social media. Myers-Briggs, DISC, Enneagram, StrengthsFinder—pick one that resonates with you.

Step 2: Get real with yourself. Read your results without your ego's commentary track running. The assessment isn't calling you out; it's giving you intel. Yes, even the parts you don't love about yourself.

Step 3: Connect the dots. Take your results out to the course. Notice when your personality helps you and when it trips you up. If you're a perfectionist type, watch how you respond to imperfect shots (spoiler: not well). If you're super social, notice if you play better with certain people.

Step 4: Build strategies, not changes. You're not trying to change your personality—that's like trying to change your height. You're building strategies that work WITH who you are. If you're detail-oriented, embrace it! Just put time limits on your analysis. If you're spontaneous, great! Just add one checkpoint before you try that hero shot over water.

Step 5: Test and adjust. This is where golf is the perfect laboratory. You get immediate feedback on whether your new approach is working. Way better than waiting for your annual performance review.

Here's what all this really comes down to: self-awareness is the ultimate competitive advantage, in golf and in life. The golfers (and business people) who truly understand themselves can build systems that amplify their strengths and manage their weaknesses.

Everyone else is just trying random tips from YouTube and wondering why their handicap isn't improving.

You don't need to become someone you're not. You need to become MORE of who you already are, but with the wisdom to know when your personality is helping you and when it's about to four-putt from 12 feet.

So this week, I challenge you: take an assessment. Any assessment. Read it. Then go play nine holes and see if you can spot yourself showing up in the patterns it describes. I guarantee you'll see things you've never noticed before.

And who knows? Understanding yourself better might not just lower your scores. It might make you better at that business presentation, that difficult conversation, or that leadership decision you've been avoiding.

Because at the end of the day, golf is just life with better outfits and more expensive equipment.

And if they look at you weird, just tell them you're "working on your mental game." That usually shuts down questions.

Now get out there and shoot your personality type, which is hopefully in the 70s.

As a side note: We are moving the newsletter to once a week on Tuesdays! Cheers everyone!

The Cog is where golfers come to upgrade their mental game. Every Tuesday!