Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Our Olympic Golf Champion!

An interesting historical side note from the recent Canadian Open, compliments of the Canadian Golf Hall of  Fame and Museum (who knew we even had one?). 

Believe it or not, the reigning Olympic Gold Medalist for golf is Canadian, George Lyon!  At the last Olympic games that included golf, he won at St. Louis in 1904.  We have the trophy to prove it, but have lost the gold medal since the 1930's. 

George Lyon won at the age of 46, over an American in his 20`s.  Lyon was already a star athlete in rugby and cricket, plus holding the national record in pole vaulting, before turning to play golf in his late 30`s. 

Another Great Canadian hero, with an inspiring story we had not heard before. 

 (Another side note and also strangely inspiring story for us less athletic heroes: this year`s Canadian Open Champion, was Carl Pettersson from Sweden, who qualified dead last on Friday so went out and had a few beers, then Saturday was just one birdie putt from a 59 and won on Sunday with a 67.  Shades of the John Daly school of golf!) 

My conclusion: Choose your role models carefully.  Focus on the results, not the life style.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Golf lessons for investors

Interesting perspective today in the National Post today by Kim Covert quoting Drew Abbott of TD-Waterhouse on how the principles for succeeding at golf also apply to successful investing.

Four key concepts that stand out for Abbott:
  • Intuition - trust your gut feel;  learn to do what feels right and stay away from what doesn't feel like a good choice before taking a swing at it.
  • Discipline - avoid high risk shots that may get you into deeper trouble instead of the heroic results you're trying to achieve.
  • Sound fundamentals - learn the basic principles, techniques and tactics that are the foundation for getting better results. 
  • Expert advice - keep learning and accept good coaching to improve your game. 
All are sound principles that should be kept in mind to achieve better results for your golf and your investment portfolio.

And don't forget to keep it in perspective: past performance is no guarantee of future results.

Enjoy and good luck.  That also helps in both golf and investing.