The Open story line tell a story that should give retail traders inspiration
Paul Dunne, a 22 year old amateur golfer from Ireland, is tied for the lead in the most historic and prestigious golf tournament in the world - The Open. Moreover the tournament is being played on the most prestigious golf course in the world - St. Andrew's in Scotland. "The Old Course" which dates back over 600 years, makes Chambers Bay the site of the recent US Open and which - according to their website - "was created to be an inspired tribute to the ancient linksland of Scotland" - look like the Back Street Boys compared to the Rolling Stones.
So how can a 22 year old amateur who has played the last 4 years at University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), compete against the "Big Boys" with all the pressure and fear, with the lack of experience, with being all of 5 foot 8 inches and 160 pounds soaking wet. How could he do it?
Well it has NOT been because of his driving distance which ranked him 149th in driving distance. He certainly is not up there with the Big Boys in that statistic. Clearly if you hit the ball farther in golf that should be a great advantage. You have less distance to the greens, with less distance you have more control. That should lead to shorter putts and a better chance to a low score. Long hitters should have an advantage.
Paul Dunne has done it by putting (that is "putt"-ing not "put"- ting) on the greens better than all but 4 other players. He has done it by getting to the green more efficiently - despite having to hit farther. He is ranked 10th in greens in regulation.
He has done it by staying out of trouble and putting (the is put-ting) himself in position to make birdies. Overall, he has made 14 birdies over 54 holes. He has avoided the "blow up" holes where you give up strokes to par. In fact over the first 54 holes he has only two bogeys. The rest have been pars.
Is he a superhuman golfer - ala Tiger Woods in his prime? No.
However, Dunne understands his role. He understands what he has to do to help himself. He knows he can not bully the course. He realizes he can hurt himself, and realizes what he has to do to stop from doing just that.
How does he know all this?
Well I am sure a lot of the inspiration comes from his caddy. You know the one who carries his bag. Paul Dunne's caddy this week happens to be his college coach at UAB - Alan Murray. That caddy happens to be the biggest influence in his game.
In his post round press conference, he said the following:
"I just kinda picked conservative targets [on my drives] that gave me room [for error on] either side, then kinda just attacked with my irons and tried to give myself chances. I went out there thinking that if I could play sensible and keep the bogeys off my card, you are going to have many opportunities for birdies that you are bound to make some".
Where did he get the game plan? The credit went right to Coach Murray. Asked by ESPN's Tom Rinaldi's about Murray's imput, Dunne said his former college coach told him to pick targets right off the tees.
"Once we pick our targets, he [Murray] told me to just commit to the swing. Once I hit it, I can't do anything about it".
We as retail traders are like amateur golfer Paul Dunne. We need to go against the Big Boys and play on the "big/best courses" as well. We have a disadvantage in that we can not bully the market around. In fact, we can not push the market price one pip.
So, how can we as retail traders compete with the best and the biggest?
By understanding our role. By understanding what our risk is on every trade and by doing so, putting (put-ting) the risk and potential reward in our favor. By knowing that if we can keep the blow ups off our "scorecard". By knowing, we will have opportunities to "attack" a trend when our risk is not triggered, and that we are bound to "make some" trends.
We can also help ourselves by understanding that there is little we can do about our trades, once the trade is done, but we do have the ability to put the "best swing" on our trades, limit our risk, understand the reasons for our trade and hope "the market" agrees.
If we can do that, even retail traders can compete with the long hitters - the professionals who do it for a living - the Big Boys..
Paul Dunne and his coach/mentor/caddy will make zero tomorrow if he wins "The Open" as an amateur. We as retail traders have the potential to make more than him on our trades. Of course we can also lose a lot too. Hence it is really, really important that traders understand how to compete on the grandest of stages. If we don't, we won't stand a chance.
The best thing - the most impressive thing about Paul Dunne, is not that he knows how to hit a golf ball better than the players out there, but that he knows how to play the game and he knows what he has to do to win against the best. He also understands the importance of having his coach/mentor with him.
Jason Shufflebotham, a fellow teammate of Dunne's and player under Coach Murray tweeted the following:
I know myself and my fellow coaches at FXL feel that way...
