What Works for Golf Works for Life

Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland, one of the greatest golfers of his generation, suffered a crushing loss at the U.S. Open this month when he missed short putts on two of the last three holes.

Please keep reading even if you don’t give a bogey about golf, because I’m going explain how the strategies that make someone a better golfer can help in other parts of life, such as personal finances. It comes down to focusing on what really matters and avoiding dumb mistakes.

My main source for today’s newsletter is Mark Broadie, who has dual credentials that are more related to each other than you might expect. He’s both an expert on golf strategy and a professor at Columbia Business School specializing in security pricing, computational finance and programming for business research.

Ten years ago, Broadie wrote a book, “Every Shot Counts: Using the Revolutionary Strokes Gained Approach to Improve Your Golf Performance and Strategy.” It’s not about how to square your shoulders or adjust your grip on the club. It’s insight gained from dynamic programming, which is a tool that’s extensively used by economists, for example in calculating the optimal saving rate.

(An aside: Broadie is a former champion of Pelham Country Club. I, on the other hand, have higher golf scores than bowling scores.)

Back to McIlroy. Immediately after his loss, people said he needed to work harder on his putting because, as is often said, tapping the ball around the green accounts for 40 percent of the strokes in a typical game.