Here is your NoSpin Debunker for August 25,
2003
Golf Behavior = Business
Behavior
This is my 72nd Debunker since mid-2001, and so
its only appropriate that this should be about business and
golf. Let's see if I can shoot close to par with this
newsletter. Let me know
what you think.
It's the dog days of the 2003 golf season, and
I've finally started playing a bit again after a hiatus of
almost three years. I'd almost forgotten how much I love it
after being a golfer now for 40 years. Even if you don't play
golf this Debunker might offer some food for thought in your
next workday. It's likely to get me into trouble because some
folks are going to see themselves (or buddies) in the
mirror--if they read on--and not like what they see.
Here's my NoSpin thesis: You can tell A LOT
about how people conduct themselves in business-and their
lives in general--by how they conduct themselves on the golf
course. Not how he or she performs, score-wise, but rather
how he/she behaves. If you want to get to know the nature a
person--an employee, a candidate, a customer, a prospect, a
partner or other person you interact with in the business
world--play a round of golf with that person (assuming, of
course, you play golf and he/she plays golf). Or, as one
friend of my mine (and a very savvy business person and
outstanding golfer) noted on the flip side: If you really
don't want to know (but you have strong suspicions), then
avoid playing golf with them since you'd probably be ruining a
pleasurable four hours on the links.
Golf and Life Compared
Many far wiser and more accomplished writers
than myself have argued that golf is the sport most like
life...or vice versa. Forget the hoity-toity country club
image that many attribute to the game. Golf is the most
individual and lonely sport of all. There are some immutable
rules in both golf and life, but in each you are essentially
on your own and expected to police yourself most of the time.
Golf is a true game of honor in which you are charged with
calling penalties on yourself and keeping your own score. It's
you and your ball and clubs out there on the course versus the
vagaries of nature. There are incredible ups and downs in
almost every round, but it's how you deal with them that
matters--and so much your final score. Like life, golf is
amazingly unfair at times (causing Mark Twain to note that
"golf is good walk spoiled"). Golf and life are circular:
ashes to ashes, dust to dust: a golf "round" is teeing off on
the first hole and then journeying all the way back again.
It's one of the few sports that players of any level can truly
play together and coexist, as in life. Life and golf are
immensely challenging, and to excel at either takes a huge
amount of practice and self discipline. And then there's the
comparison that what makes golf much more like life than
baseball or other sports is because in golf: "You have to play
your foul balls."
The 2003 PGA: An Example of Class
A lot of folks complain about the prima donnas
on the men's pro golf tour, and Lord knows there are a bunch
of them. But golf is truly an honorable game, and that is
central to virtually all who make a living at it. Touring pro,
Loren Roberts, (AKA, the "Boss of the Moss" for his uncanny
putting skills), and a contender for the most recent PGA
championship, left a note in Shaun Micheel's locker the
morning of the last round of PGA. Roberts note reminded Shaun
(who had not won one PGA tournament in 163 tries, much less a
major tournament) that he was as good as anyone in the field
and to win the tournament. Later that afternoon Shaun Micheel
hit possibly the best shot on the 72nd hole of any major of
any year to ice the tournament: a gorgeous 7-iron from 175
yards that came to rest 2 inches from the hole. Virtual
unknown, Shaun Micheel bested every top golfer in world and
won the 2003 PGA, one of the four biggest tournaments in men's
pro golf. Can you imagine sportsmen of other genres doing what
Loren Roberts did? It just does not happen very often. Golf is
different than other sports.
Golf and Business
But back to golf and business--as a key activity
of life. The golf course has long been known as a place to get
business deals done and make sales-besides having fun. But
playing golf with someone who you don't know (or don't know
well) is a also a way it to size up employees, and job
candidates, partners, customers and competitors over a span of
four hours and get an excellent read on them.
Do the business people you play golf
with:
- Abide by the rules (and I'm not talking about
every arcane Royal & Ancient rule that Tom Watson has
memorized) and tell the truth--or cut corners and
cheat?
- Play golf the way it is supposed to be played
or expect and encourage you to cut corners as well?
- Behave with good etiquette and respect you and
your other golfing partners and the golf course itself (your
time, your play, your solitude, your space) or act as self
absorbed, boorish louts?
- Behave as good sports-regardless of what the
course deals them and keep playing--or constantly whine,
complain, or even quit?
- Live up to verbal agreements, in particular,
golf wagers, or refuse to pay what they owe?
All people have foibles. Nobody's perfect.
Virtually every golfer who has played the game has flipped a
club in disgust, uttered a swear word or two--or more, taken a
little longer to line up a key putt, given themselves a short
putt, moaned about his or her bad luck, or otherwise not acted
like a perfect angel on the course. That's not the point.
Rather the issue is--during an individual round or two-do an
individual's specific behaviors (and/or several of those
listed below) manifest themselves again and again? Patterns of
behavior are very telling, and the golf course tends to bring
out the best and worst in indivduals. Playing golf seems to
magnify both the good and bad traits in people. And sure,
there are always exceptions: individuals just having a very
bad day or otherwise preoccupied, novices, immature
youngsters, some true Dr. Jekyl and Mr's Hyde's,
etc.
Poor Golf Behavior
Here are a several common indicators of poor
golfing behavior to note the next time you're on the links
playing the first time with someone. I've seen all of them
dozens of times,and there are many more:
- Shaving strokes off their score (not counting
all shots, not counting penalty strokes, etc)-a trick here
for the really devious is that they like to keep the
score-so that they control the tainted results.
- Not paying off bets that were clearly made
(again, the sophisticated cheaters like to be in charge of
tracking the bets)
- Not knowing the basic rules of the game
- Lying about their true handicaps
- Not turning in all scores (used to calculate
handicaps)
- Improving their lies (that is, how the ball
lies)
- Moving their balls from under bushes, from
behind trees, etc
- Giving themselves putts
- Giving themselves mulligans
- Providing you unsolicited and repeated
critiques of your swing or play in general
- Encouraging you and everyone else to improve
lies, play mulligans, take putts as gimmees, etc-to affirm
what their transgressions
- Taking gouges out of the course via temper
tantrums
- Throwing equipment
- Not repairing divots and ball marks
- Not raking sand traps
- Walking across putting lines
- Talking or moving (in a line of sight) when
others are playing
- Yelling, cursing after every poor shot
- Not marking their ball on the green (e.g. when
it is in other players' line of sight)or marking it
incorrectly
- Not preparing to play while others are
- Not watching where they hit their shots
- Not helping others to find their balls
- Not playing rapidly (no round should ever take
over 4 hours)
- Not putting their golf cart, golf bag in
position to move to the next tee
- Complaining incessantly about their bad
breaks
- Yapping incessantly about their golf
skills-and not backing it up
- Not complimenting others play and good
shots
- Talking about their great shots instead
- Quitting before the round is over because they
are not playing well
= Poor Business Behavior
Be a bit more observant of people who you don't
really know, and watch their behavior on the course. After the
round, what is your gut reaction to the two
questions:
1) Would I ever want to spend time with such a
person on the golf course again-or for that matter, anywhere
else?
2) Do I trust him/her?
Go with your gut and put that information to
work in your business when you are making decisions about
employees, candidates, partners, prospects, customers, etc.
And whatever you decide to do--unless the answers to the two
questions are both "yes--don't waste your time playing another
round of golf with those folks. Life is too short, and golf
time is too precious.
615.383.7157
