Many people have asked this question: Why do businessmen play golf?
Look it up on Quora and there are a ton of people asking the same questions. I’m by no means a professional player nor I am claiming to be an expert of some sort. However, I am a businessman who really loves to play golf.
As I answered one on my Quora profile, and here are the 10 good reasons:
On an average tee day, you can spend 4 to 5 quality hours with either your co-businesspeople, company CEO and/or prospective clients. These things hardly occur within an office environment because the reason why they are in the office in the first place is they’re off to do work rather than mingle. No other sport offers the amount of “getting-to-know-you” time between shots allowing for wide-ranging conversations and mutual interests to be discovered.
With all the hustle and bustle of goings-on in the office, might as well meet in a place surrounded by nature to create a relaxing and friendly atmosphere to do business without distractions.
Golf is an ice breaker. It can open the lines of communication while providing a sense of belonging and a way to meet and network with great people and other like-minded professionals. Golf is an excellent way to get your name out in the business world and get ahead!
As many golfers would attest, “the way a person plays golf is very similar to how he or she conducts business affairs.” I most certainly agree. Golf is a game of ethics. It also brings out the best and worst in people. The different situations arising in a golf course reveal how one responds to failure, success, frustration and pressure. Do they cheat or do they follow the rules even when no one is looking?
Regardless of how many meetings you have with one person, nothing beats 4 hours of golf! It allows you and your fellow golfers to equally learn each other’s personalities. One thing I really like is when I bring my sons to a golf game and a fellow businessman would bring his own sons as well. Sometimes, our wives would play golf with each other as well. It widens the friendship and totally takes the relationship to a whole new level.
Personally, I’ve made a lot of friends around the sport. Even the mere interest in golf alone easily made me friendships that lasted a lifetime. I’ve also made business partners thanks to golf.
Golfing and taking cues from the seminal self-help book How to Win Friends and Influence People by the legendary Dale Carnegie, it’s much easier to send gifts when you know someone who is a golfer. It could be a novelty tee set or the latest logo cap as long as you lets them know that you’ve never forgotten about them and their special day (be it a birthday, work anniversary, etc.) makes a ton of impact.
What’s amazing about golf is that it’s ageless. A wise businessman once taught me that in order to learn, one must have a different set of friends: ones older than you are; ones of the same age and; ones younger than you. The sport’s handicap system enables all ages, backgrounds and abilities to play together and compete. Try doing that in a basketball game!
Golf is THE ultimate networking environment for all types of professionals and services. Are you running a laundry supply business? You might just be playing with someone who owns a hotel chain. As for me, I have a customized jerseys and athletic apparel business (Mighty Sports) and it has been commissioned by top company executives I met on the golf course to create custom golf shirts for various tournaments, or basketball jerseys for sports team owners or any apparel for whatever sport for that matter.
Without question, this might be the ultimate follow-up to that well-spent last four hours of tee time. After a round of golf, it provides the perfect setting to take your newly-enhanced rapport to the next level. Go ahead, sit at the club and drink up that glass of finely-aged whisky.
(EDIT: #10 was originally called the 19th hole but it tends to have a different connotation than intended.)
Just to conclude, this is just based on my personal experience. I’m sure someone else may have his/her own viewpoints about this particular topic.
Have a great day!
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