The Heart Behind Mental Golf Type

In this image, we’re supporting MGT Certified Coach Cheryl Anderson at her 5th straight U.S. Senior Women’s Open as a qualifier—a moment that reminded us exactly why this work matters.

We were there not just as spectators, but as believers in what it means to coach with clarity, compete with integrity, and perform when it counts. Cheryl represents everything MGT stands for: mental performance backed by results.

“Great coaching begins with knowing yourself and helping others rise when it matters most."

The Mental Golf Type® Development Story

How Personality Became the Missing Link in Golf’s Mental Game

John spoke at the Proponent Group Summit, pictured here with Sevan and coaching icon Mike Bender, where John previously served as a mental performance coach at Mike Bender Golf Academy.

Where It All Started: A Mental Game That Didn’t Work for Everyone

For years, golfers were given the same generic advice to master the mental game:
“Just stay confident.”
“Focus harder.”
“Be more positive.”

But for many players, especially under pressure, those tips didn’t help. They lost their feel. Their tempo vanished. The harder they tried, the more it slipped.

That’s when we realized: something was missing.

The Insight That Changed Everything: Personality Was the Missing Link

It wasn’t until we began looking through the lens of personality that the mental game started to make sense. Drawing from the foundational work of Carl Jung, we explored how people are wired to process information, make decisions, and manage their internal and external worlds.

But here’s where Mental Golf Type® cracked the code:

We didn’t just describe personality. We discovered how it actually works under pressure, during competition, and in real-time golf performance.

We began seeing patterns that had been invisible before, patterns that showed exactly why players were breaking down under stress and what to do about it.

The Discovery: Stress Triggers Mental Shifts That Sabotage Performance

What we found was groundbreaking:

Every golfer operates with a dominant set of mental functions, their unique Mental Golf Type.
But under even subtle stress, those functions can begin to shift.

At first, it’s nearly undetectable, an inner tension, a creeping doubt, a sense of things not clicking.

But soon, there’s a breakdown in clarity, tempo, emotional regulation, and even physical movement.

The core insight:

Performance loss isn’t random. It’s quite predictable, and personality shows you where, why, and how it happens.

This wasn’t just about mindset.
We began connecting these shifts to motor function breakdowns, emotional patterns, and decision-making under fire.

We didn’t just coach players.
We observed how they processed pressure, and everything changed.

John with professional golfer Austen Truslow after a 3rd-place finish at a Korn Ferry Tour event in Savannah, Georgia. That season, they earned three Top-5 finishes working together.

From the Course to the System: Mapping the Real Mental Game

Over years of live sessions, competitive testing, and high-stakes coaching across every level of the game, we began to map the inner experience of golf based on a player’s personality.

We identified how each Mental Golf Type:

• Gathers and evaluates information on the course

• Builds confidence or erodes it

• Rallies after a mistake, or spirals

• Interprets pressure situations

• Responds to structure, feedback, routine, and flow

The results were staggering. We could predict how players would respond before they even teed it up.
More importantly, we could help them reset and return to their optimal performance state before the next shot, not after the round

That’s when Mental Golf Type became more than a framework.
It became a practical system.

What Makes Mental Golf Type™ Different

Mental Golf Type isn’t about labeling players. It’s about unlocking their personal performance code.

Our system identifies your:

• Mental energy flow (Extraversion vs. Introversion)

• Information-processing style (Sensing vs. iNtuition)

• Decision-making pattern (Thinking vs. Feeling)

• Approach to time, structure, and adaptability (Judging vs. Perceiving)

But we don’t stop at awareness. We show players how to train, prepare, compete, and recover in ways that align with how their brain naturally operates.

And when stress throws them off track, we give them the tools to reset and recover...fast.

That’s the MGT edge.

The System Today: Built for Every Golfer, From Junior to Tour Pro

Mental Golf Type has grown into a global movement. It’s trusted by:

• Coaches and players at the highest levels of amateur and professional golf

• Federations, academies, and junior programs

• Parents and teams looking for a proven, coachable way to build confidence and resilience

Our system powers:

• The Mental Fitting™ – the foundational experience that identifies your type and maps your strengths

• MGT Core Concepts – the course that teaches players how to optimize performance through self-awareness

• The Shot Process Formula – brings your type into your routine and competitive execution

• Mental Fitness Training – with self-talk scripts, affirmations, and recovery tools built specifically for your personality

• The Inner Steel Program – a personal growth system for all levels golfers that develops foundational mental skills

Whether you're a rising junior, a collegiate athlete, a tour-level player, or a coach guiding others Mental Golf Type gives you the power to make performance consistent, resilient, and aligned.

John leading a Mental Golf Type workshop for elite juniors and their families at the Mike Bender Golf Academy highlighting how personalized mental strategies shape championship development.

Conclusion: A New Era of Performance Is Here

For decades, golfers have searched for ways to become more confident under pressure. They've worked on routines, preparation strategies, and mental game techniques, all in an effort to perform more consistently when it matters most.

Yet many players were still missing a critical piece of the puzzle: understanding of how their own mind naturally performs under pressure.

Mental Golf Type® was created to provide that missing piece. Rather than teaching every golfer the same system, it helps players understand their natural performance patterns, recognize how stress affects them, and learn how to return to their strengths more quickly during competition.

At its core, Mental Golf Type® is built on a simple belief: great golf doesn't come from becoming someone else. It comes from understanding how you perform at your best and learning how to trust that process when the pressure rises.

That's the foundation of Mental Golf Type®, and the principle that continues to guide everything we do.

Our Core Values

✅  Personalization Over Generalization

Every player’s mind is different. We honor individuality and build mental strategies around each golfer’s strengths, not in spite of them.

✅ Practical Tools That Drive Real Results

We deliver actionable tools that improve performance on the range, under pressure, and in competition.

✅ Empowerment Through Education

We believe that knowledge is power. By helping golfers and coaches understand how the mind works, we foster confidence, growth, and self-leadership.

✅ Science-Driven, Experience-Tested

Our methods blend psychological research, performance neuroscience, and thousands of hours of real-world coaching from juniors to tour players.

✅ Resilience Is a Skill 

We don’t chase perfection, we train for it. We help golfers build the tools to bounce back, reset fast, and stay mentally strong in every round and every season.