David Leadbetter, legendary golf instructor, wrote a brilliant article for The Players’ Tribune explaining why Derek Jeter and other elite athletes find golf so hard.  Mr. Leadbetter writes:

It’s a common misconception that athletes can easily transition to the
links. The truth is a little more complicated. While athletes have a leg
up on some of the mental and physical aspects of the game, golf remains
a fundamentally different sport from any other. In fact, sometimes the
very athleticism that makes a pro athlete so good at their own sport is a
hindrance on the golf course.

It turns out it is not easy for many other elite athletes because they do not have the specific athleticism for hitting a still golf ball.  As traders, there are lessons from this insightful piece to help us become an elite trader.

1) I have never understood why sophisticated market leaders thought poker players would make for good traders.  In The PlayBook, I share why and how I advised a principal at a large hedge fund not to hire them.  Poker players love poker but not necessarily trading.  Trading is so much more complicated than poker, with many more skills necessary and a level of thinking far more nuanced and high-level.  Performance in one field will not necessarily lead to performance in the trading world (though a history of success will help).

2) Traders need to find their niche.  I have seen guys fail at equities trading and become awesome options traders.  I have seen guys kill it trading high beta stocks like $NFLX, $TSLA, $AMZN, $LNKD but just cannot trade slow movers like $MSFT, $INTC, $GM.  I have seen proven PMs fail miserably at intraday trading.  And I have seen some miserable traders, I mean just the worst, become leaders in the field of market commentary or teaching.

As Derek Jeter struggles at golf but was a hall-of-fame baseball player, you might labor as a swing trader but triumph at scalping.  You might stink-up-the-markets as a short-term trader but find edge, fame and glory as a global macro trader.

3) Here is a path to find and develop your trading niche:

a) Develop a strong foundation as a trader.

b) Experiment in real-time with different trading strategies.

c) Record your results with these different trading strategies, looking for the trades that work best for you.

d) Determine your best time frame, product, and strategies after experimenting, studying PnL results, and personal reflection.

e) Seek a trading coach who watches your trading in real-time, with a history of success, and is trading similar to your optimal style.

f) Continue learning always. Search for other link-minded traders and ask them about their edge.

4) You do not have to find your niche immediately.  Some are very solid short-term traders and then progress to swing-traders and then become PMs.  These traders build from the skills they acquire from past strategies, expand time frames and learn to express their ideas in more sophisticated ways to trade bigger and better.

And finally, as a former college pitcher, I cannot help but point out that Leadbetter found pitchers transitioned best to golf.  Now if that were just the case with me.

*no relevant positions