I am not a good golfer.
When I duff a shot, I try to make up for it with a bigger swing on the next one. I duff that one too.
But the thing that really bugs me is three putting. I do it all the time.
So I worked on my putting.
Then it dawned on me. It wasn't the putting. It was the chip onto the green. I wasn't getting close enough to the hole. I was leaving myself too much to do.
So I worked on my chipping.
Then I realised the chip was often too difficult to begin with. I was in the rough, on the wrong side of the fairway, too far out. Which took me back to my second shot, usually duffed because I was trying to do too much with it.
And why was that? Because my tee shot wasn't in play. I was swinging for distance like a pro.
Pros can get themselves out of all sorts of trouble after a wayward drive. High handicappers can't. That's why they're high handicappers.
At my level, a straight 150 yard bunt down the middle is worth ten times a 240 yard drive into the rough. For a pro it's the other way round.
I try to remember all this. But standing over the ball, club going back, I suddenly feel like Seve, or Scottie, or Tiger, or Rory.
I am not them.
My eyes light up. The urge to smack it rises. This one's the one.
The pros have caddies. They need caddies. Someone to hold the round together, talk them down, take the driver out of their hands at the right moment.
I have nothing. Just my thoughts and the feeling over the ball. And the urge.
I have to be my own caddy, I don’t have a choice.
Financial planning is the same game.
The three putt is the panicked sell at the bottom. Or the tax bill you didn't see coming. Or the retirement shortfall you're trying to close in your last five working years. It feels like a putting problem. It almost never is.
It traces back. The shortfall traces back to under-saving in your forties. The under-saving traces back to a lifestyle you set in your thirties without really thinking about it. The panicked sell traces back to a portfolio that was never right for you. Too much risk, taken when the market was up and you felt like you knew what you were doing.
Most people don't have a money problem. They have a tee shot problem.
A good financial planner is a caddy. Hands you the club that keeps you in play. Most people don't have one, so you have to be your own. Which is hard. Because in the moment, standing over the decision, everyone feels like a pro. The urge to smack it rises. This one's the one.
The golfer and the caddy live in the same head. And the golfer is usually louder.