Golf and Business

Got a note recently from someone about a series I wrote a while back about business and golf. If you're interested, here's one of the central pieces:

Several years ago, Mike Kanazawa played a round of golf with three other San Francisco-area businesspeople.
Two years later, Kanazawa's consulting firm, Dissero Partners, landed significant projects with two of his playing partners.
"We were never out saying we could do this and that for you," says Kanazawa, chief executive of the 20-person firm with $2 million in annual revenue. "We talked about it some, but, then, we also talked about our families. I wasn't out there pumping for business."
Kanazawa's experience illustrates the subtle dance that exists between business and golf. True, business happens during the course of 18 holes—often, significant business—but usually in an understated, carefully managed fashion. And that makes it important to have a working list of business golf dos and donts.
One of the most important elements to recognize is the opportunity golf affords—if nothing else, in the amount of time you can interact with a colleague, prospect or existing client.
"With golf, you can spend up to five or six hours with someone," says Jay Monahan of Fenway Sports Group, a 17-person, $250 million sports promotion and consulting concern which is a subsidiary of New England Sports Ventures. "Can you imagine if I called someone up and asked to meet with them for five hours? With golf, that's what you're asking."
But that amount of time shouldn't automatically morph into a predatory quest to close the deal by the time the final ball has plopped into the 18th hole. Usually, anything but. For the most part, golf and business intertwine to build relationships—a variety of telling signs that suggest who may be a suitable business partner and who may be something less.
If you're the one doing the inviting, that starts with preparation—mapping out just how you can make the day a pleasant one for your playing partners.
"Make sure they have the right directions to the course and that you've invited them to a course that's appropriate to their level of play," says Hilary Bruggen Fordwich, who teaches workshops on how to combine business and golf. "It's a test of your likability. No one chooses to do business with someone they don't like."
But it can also prove a test of sorts for the other players. Experienced business golfers say they watch their playing partners to see how they handle themselves on the course. From simple acts like picking up other players' clubs and helping to look for wayward balls to reaction to poor shots, on-course behavior can prove an expansive window into professional character.
"If someone throws a club because they made a double bogey, what does that say how they might react when they face real adversity?" says Monahan.
Savvy players also match their conversation to the setting and any clues the other players may drop. If, for instance, you’ve been in substantial negotiations for several months, wait for the other player to raise the topic: "If it's important, it will manifest itself somewhere," says Monahan. That may happen on the course itself or over drinks afterward, but don't rush things. Watch for overtures that suggest your partner is ready to discuss details. By contrast, if the game is one of your first meetings, best to stick to getting to know each other.
Other tips and strategies:
*Downplay competition. "Don't go out there to beat someone," says Fordwich. "Emphasize enjoyment of the day."
* Dress appropriately. As Fordwich notes, black clothes on a 90-degree day can only lead to sweaty disaster.
*Unless you know someone's game, avoid praise. What seems like a solid 200-yeard drive may be disappointing to someone used to 75 yards more.
* Don't cheat, however innocently. Moving a ball on your own accord may seem innocuous to you—it may offend your playing partners. "You can never bee too honest," says Fordwich.

Finally, don't limit golf outings to playing with prospects or
colleagues. Dan Stewart, owner of Geo-Logical, a $5 million Port Richey, Fl. sinkhole repair company, routinely takes job applicants out for a round. The dynamics are the same—an enjoyable time that can also prove enlightening.
"Years ago for a marketing position, I invited a candidate back for a second round of golf," says Stewart. "He thought he had the job so he drank a little too much and really let his hair down. We made the decision not to bring him on board."


Jeff