I recently read an article by Shane Ryan at Golf World, “Selfishness is a key to success for a tour pro … until it goes too far“. What Shane has recognized is one of the Champion Personality Traits that we discovered with our studies on the Tour Players in 1980 and 1990. He calls it Selfishness. We call it Tough-Minded and we discovered that the frequent winners on Tour measured slightly to clearly above average on the Tough-Minded personality scale. This is one of the Eight Champion Personality Traits for Golf that we discovered through research!
Statistically, our research found that the frequent winners on Tour measured differently from the other Tour players on these personality traits. The statistical difference was not slight. It was black and white. The frequent Champions matched these trait measures and the other Tour players did not. We measured 32 personality traits. On the other personality traits, the statistical difference was much less. So these 8 personality traits are the keys to your success in golf. Ignore them at your peril.
Tough-Minded is defined as selfish and self-centered, logical, rejecting illusions, not caring of others. The opposite personality trait is Tender-Minded. Statistically, the frequent winners on Tour measured 3-4 on a 1-10 scale where 1 is extremely Tough-Minded and 10 is extremely Tender-Minded. Statistically, the other Tour players did not match this measurement. They were more Tough-Minded or more Tender-Minded than the Tour players.
Shane’s examples demonstrate this personality trait but may actually describe higher levels of Tough-Mindedness than the frequent winners measured.
Where are you on this scale? It is not good enough to say you need to be selfish on the golf course. You must understand how selfish is effective and when too much or too little is hurting your play or leading to a penalty. You can take the same personality assessment we gave the Tour players and find out exactly how you compare. Then you can adjust if necessary. We will offer coaching to help you emulate the frequent Tour winners when you play.
Shane also touched on a couple other Champion personality traits without realizing he was lumping them together with Tough Minded and Selfish. Several of the quotes were about players preferring to play for themselves, not on a team. This is the Champion Personality Trait called Self Sufficiency. This is a preference for making your own decisions and being independent of others. The Champions scored slightly to clearly above average on Self Sufficiency.
The other Champion Trait Shane described without realizing it was Introverted. When he described players being able to practice long hours by themselves he was describing an Introvert. The frequent Tour winners measured slightly to clearly above average on the Introverted scale. This also means they are more internally focused. It is easier for them to focus and block outside distractions.
So a good article worth reading but the conclusions and descriptions lumped all three Champion Personality Traits together under the grouping of Selfish and Unaware of others. Any time you generalize like this and work from simple observations you can easily draw the wrong conclusions about golf and cause players to overdo something to their detriment and hurt their performance.
We will be happy to offer our recommendations for your personality and golf performance, appropriate for you based on research and the results of a very accurate personality assessment you can take online. In less than 40 minutes you will know exactly how you compare to the frequent winners on Tour and what to do about it. Most likely you match several of the Champion Traits already. Most likely you only need to work on a couple others to start performing to your potential in golf. This will also prevent you from heading down the wrong path following un-proven advice that may be wrong for you.
Want to know how your personality traits line up with tour pros? Our 8 Champion Personality Traits for Golf Assessment will show you where you stand and provide personalized advice on how you can play like a pro.
Ready when you are!
