I went to the Siebel Classic seniors golf tournament today. Before I walked the fairways, I stopped to visit the practice range and watch the players warm up. One of the no-name pros was banging out 280 yard drives that seemed to land in the same spot time after time. As I watched him, I was amazed at the simplicity of his swing. He just took the club back 3/4s of the way, paused, and banged the ball.
I've been a student of the game for over 35 years, and my biggest ambition is to work my way up to being mediocre. I've hit buckets of balls until my hands blistered, taken lessons, bought the latest equipment, and read all the books and magazines. I used to keep a list of "swing keys" in my golf bag, and would review them before each round. There were over 25 items on it, and by the time I read them, it was all I could do to take the club back from the ball. It's called paralysis by analysis.
But the old geezer at the range wasn't checking club positions or weigh shifts or reading any lists. He was just banging balls. It seemed so simple.
When I came home this afternoon and browsed through the threads, I was struck by how complicated it is to make investment decisions. Entry points, exit points, moving averages, price to sales ratios, pegs, discounted cash flows, stochastics, fed rates, tax cuts, consumer confidence, demographic trends, analysts' reports, etc. The thought struck me that I should make up a check list and read it before I dared to take any action.
But that old geezer billionaire, Buffett, doesn't he make it look simple? He just looks for great companies, buys them, and holds on.
uf |
