THE FOUNDERS
The People Behind Mental Golf Type®.
Mental Golf Type® was created by John and Sevan Weir, bringing together John's experience in golf and mental performance with Sevan's expertise in personality typology.
THE BEGINNING
The Problem With One-Size-Fits-All Mental Game Advice
For years, golfers have been taught many of the same mental strategies: follow a consistent routine, stay positive, focus on precise targets, control your emotions, and approach the game in a particular way.
Much of that advice can be useful. The problem is that it doesn't work equally well for every golfer.
Through coaching and working with players, we saw golfers respond very differently to the same strategies. More structure helped some players feel prepared and confident, while others performed better with greater freedom and flexibility. Some wanted precise information and clearly defined targets. Others responded better to a broader picture and room to react.
These weren't simply differences in skill, experience, or attitude. There appeared to be consistent differences in how golfers naturally took in information, made decisions, prepared, communicated, and approached the game.
That led to the question that would eventually change the direction of our work:
What if there isn't one right way to think and play golf?
PERSONALITY CHANGED THE QUESTION
From “What Works?” to “What Works for This Golfer?”
Instead of asking every golfer to think, prepare, communicate, and make decisions the same way, we began looking at the natural preferences each player brought to the course.
Personality gave those differences a framework. What had looked like individual preferences began to reveal consistent patterns in how golfers gained energy, processed information, evaluated decisions, and approached structure.
These differences weren't problems to correct. They were patterns to understand.
That changed the question from:
“What is the right mental strategy?”
to:
“What is the right mental strategy for this golfer?”
That shift became one of the central ideas behind Mental Golf Type®.
THE STRESS DISCOVERY
Stress Changes More Than the Way a Golfer Thinks.
Personality helped explain why golfers naturally approached the game differently. But the bigger discovery came from understanding what happened under stress.
We began seeing that golfers under stress shifted away from the dominant mental functions they naturally relied on and began operating through underdeveloped mental functions.
And the effects weren't only mental.
That shift created additional mental stress and increased cortisol, affecting the motor system responsible for athletic movement. Tension increased. Tempo changed. Coordination and fine motor control were disrupted. The golf swing changed.
This helped explain something we had seen repeatedly: golfers could produce very different swings under stress even when the underlying technique hadn't changed. And those stress responses weren't random. Different personality types showed predictable patterns in how performance began to break down.
That discovery gave us another piece of the puzzle and moved Mental Golf Type® closer to becoming a system.
MENTAL GOLF TYPE® TODAY
From an Idea to Golfers Around the World.
Mental Golf Type® has grown from an idea into a system used by golfers and coaches around the world.
More than 30,000 golfers across 100+ countries have completed the Mental Fitting®, thousands have gone on to use MGT training programs, and 80+ coaches have become MGT Certified to bring the system into their own coaching.
Today, MGT is used by developing juniors, recreational players, collegiate programs, competitive amateurs, professionals, and coaches who want to better understand how personality and stress shape performance.
The system has grown, but the idea behind it remains the same: there isn't one right way to think and play golf.
WHAT STILL GUIDES MGT
Four Principles That Continue to Guide the Work.
As Mental Golf Type® continues to develop, four principles guide how we work with golfers and coaches.
See the individual.
Every golfer is different. The goal isn't to fit players into a prescribed way of thinking or performing, but to understand the person in front of us.
Work with strengths, not against them.
Golfers shouldn't have to become someone else to play their best. MGT is built around helping players understand and trust the mental strengths that come most naturally to them.
Make it practical.
Understanding personality only matters if it helps a golfer on the course. Everything we develop is intended to turn insight into something players and coaches can actually use.
Keep learning.
Mental Golf Type® continues to evolve through research, observation, coaching, and the experiences of the golfers and coaches using the system.
The goal is simple: help golfers understand themselves and use that understanding to perform at their best.
CONTINUE EXPLORING MGT
Go Deeper Into Mental Golf Type®.
Explore the ideas, research, and experiences behind the system.
The 3 Pillars of MGT
Understand the foundation behind mental performance in MGT.
The Science Behind MGT
Explore the research connecting personality, stress, and performance.
Player Experiences
See how golfers and coaches have put MGT into practice.
