Your personality on the course affects your score

What is your golf personality?

Do you think your golf personality affects the way you play the game? According to Darrin Gee, founder of the Spirit of Golf Academy in Hawaii, the answer is, “Yes.” To back up his claim he has authored The Seven Personalities of Golf: Discover Your Inner Golfer to Play Your Best Game. This volume is a logical progression from his previous work, The Seven Principles of Golf. Gee is one of the leading “mental” gurus that the professional game has developed over the last ten to fifteen years. Those of us that began the game before the intervention of psychology knew that we hit bad shots. We blamed it on our swing. Now we know differently.

So, if you want to investigate more than the bad swing theory, I suggest you get your hands on a copy of Gee’s book. But don’t be put off by the psychology, this is a fun book. Whether or not you think it will be beneficial to psycho-analyze your golf game, I guarantee you will enjoy examining the seven personality types that Gee has identified and then applying those traits to yourself and your golf game.

That’s the engaging part of this book. (And it doesn’t hurt that this is a physically attractive volume with a bright maroon cover, curved edges and a ribbon maker.) That is the sole purpose of this publication and that’s how he concludes his introductory section.

The seven chapters are the seven personalities – Intimidator, Swashbuckler, Methodologist, Gamesman, Steady Eddie, Laid-Back, and Artist. Each chapter is arranged exactly the same. There is a description of the personality that points to one or more of the applicable professional golfers (Guess who is the Intimidator?) and that is followed by a “Golf Profiler.” This is a ten-part questionnaire which will help you to determine your golfing personality. The “Golf Profiler” is succeeded by a section designed to help you apply the particular personality to your golf game whether or not it is your dominant personality. The theory is that disciplined application of the proper personality should improve your game - at least from the mental standpoint. And we all know that golf is 50% physical and 90% mental.

Enjoy this book. It is great fun and a welcome diversion from all the other golf books that try to improve your game.