OK, enough said about the failed economy, let’s talk about more pleasant things like playing golf.
What are some of the things that are keeping you from playing more golf or, worst yet, that are keeping you from starting to play golf?
As mentioned, I am not getting into all of the things that get into everyone’s way of playing golf that is due to the economy. I am looking at the things that get into people’s heads that keeps them from playing or playing more golf and they really should let it stop them.
No Time
I hear it every day…Who has the time to play golf?” OK, true enough, there was a time for a few years during my child raising era that I told people I had no time for myself, but that was temporary and now, knowing what I know now, I look back at all of the time I had I wasted and should have spent playing golf. When I took a look at where I was spending my time over 75% of it was spent at work. When I broke down my time at work of 80% of my week was spent in some sort of meeting with staff, department heads, vendors, and customers. This explained why there was nothing getting done..too many meetings.
During the last third of my career in corporate America, I started using my innovative thinking in an effort to find ways to accomplish more from those mundane meetings. So I started using golf as a reward for efficiency and it worked…we started getting things done. Then I moved my golf efforts to be the focus and then the work is done afterward which fit into the business development portion of the business.
So, I moved the time for golf off the personal side of life and shifted it to the work time and became more productive at both. Naturally, this may not work for everyone or in every situation, but in most cases, if there is a will there is a way.
Too Expensive
Even in the Pre-Recession days a few months ago, golf was and is still is too expensive for most. Again, when I moved my golf to the business side of the equation of life it became a benefit to productivity and cost justifiable on a number of levels.
Too Hard to Learn and Play
I will agree, golf can be daunting and frustrating, but that is what makes golf great. There is no doubt on the difficulty of playing golf which makes learning to play golf an ongoing process that could last a lifetime. For people who are not patient by nature make golf very difficult to learn which would stand for being a reason why golf would be difficult to play.
What helps lessen the fact that golf is difficult to learn and play would be to have a good reason to play. The difficulty of golf and all its frustrations are greater if you are just hanging out on the driving range or playing golf recreationally. However, when playing golf is to be used as a tool in business a reason to play golf is developed. The difficulty and frustration stay the same, but now that there is a reason involved to makes them tolerable.
In time, the motivation to learn to play golf for business will accelerate the learning curve which benefits the golfer’s overall perception of golf by also improving their skill level making golf not so hard to play. Having an overpowering urge or reason to play makes a big difference.
Nobody to Play With
Sometimes the interest in golf does not match up with the social fabric of your life. People around you..in church, parent organizations and other social groups…just do not play golf. This makes a person interested in playing golf appear to be an outcast or an outsider within their social group.
So, here we go again..when the golf is moved to the business side of the day it opens up another group of business people that many people separate too far from their life. Playing golf with fellow employees, vendors or customers opens up another area of life and broadens that social circle to include even more people.
Not Athletic
It is too bad there are many people who were not exposed to golf early in life who now only get to see what golf is all about from the TV or watching a professional golf event. That exposure to the top players in the world sets an image in these people’s head that the high level of play is the standard everyone who plays golf has to reach to be called a golfer. That is a hard image or impression to break but needs to be brought back into reality.
Too many people get hung up on how they look when doing things. Granted, image is everything, but in golf, there is one thing that has to be quickly realized..everyone, even Tiger Woods, was a beginner..though he was three years old when he was a beginner, the fact is everyone who plays golf looked awkward, uncoordinated and uncomfortable when they began to play the game.
The golf swings seen on TV comes from years of practice and playing the game. It could be used as a goal, but as far as a standard it is far too high for many people to comfortably reach. However, it can be reached if the fundamentals are learned correctly which brings up the point that being taught to play golf is the only way to build confidence in playing the game. The professional golf instructors do a great job of breaking the concerns of what someone looks like when learning to play the game.
You don’t have to be an athlete to play golf..just have a determination and that takes a person a long way to building confidence which washes away the image issue.
Appear Frivolous
This misnomer of appearing to be wasting time if seem playing golf is getting out of hand. This obstacle, or reason, that is getting in the way of many executives to playing golf does not go along with appearing awkward or unathletic but still falls within the image concern.
I have not really heard any real explanation why someone playing golf would appear frivolous. If that was true then anyone seen jogging or having a cup of coffee at a cafe would also appear frivolous. For that matter, it is frivolous of those business people to throw out the window a business tool that is proven to be a business developer..more so than jogging and drinking coffee with someone.
This ‘fear of appearing frivolous’ keeps not only the executives of companies from learning more of their customer’s needs but their entire company from being in the market generating business. How anyone could consider a round of golf before a business gathering frivolous is absurd. If that is frivolous then why aren’t the companies dropping funds on NASCAR or Bass Tournaments look at as being frivolous.
There are a lot of reasons people give for not playing golf and not many hold water. Get out and learn the game that you can play for a lifetime.
Let me know how I can help.
