I was out on LinkedIn recently reviewing some of the many business issues being discussed. I get involved in a number of them. I enjoy passing on my years of operations management experience to those who are still battling it out in the large businesses that are still left in the economy. What I find frustrating with these discussions I am having there is how I am not taken seriously because I am now part of the golf industry. It seems some feel people who have golf businesses, or business that touch golf, are not to be taken seriously as people who have any business savvy.
It simply amazes me the perception people have about golf as something that is a complete waste of time. Plus it is astonishing to find how many people there are out there who view the people who own golf businesses, or employed in the golf industry, as being part of the problem that caused the collapse of the economy. Lots of misguided and misinformed people out in the world.
The question is..
Why do they feel that way?
I have put forth a lot of energy over the past four or five years to finding out why people have a negative attitude towards golf. I battle it nearly everyday in some shape or form. My encounters come usually when I ask someone to join me to play golf and talk business afterwards. Over 85% of the time I will be dealt some reason on why they can’t play which usually boils down to being something lacking in their time managing skills. The excuses range from..
I have time for Nine holes and we can talk business while we play, but I have to get back to the office afterwards to do something more worthwhile.
to…
I wish I could make it, but really need to stay focused on finding new business and making worthwhile contacts.
Yaw..there are those type of people out there. But, what is causing this avoidance of making solid business contacts? Too many people are going for quantity of contacts over quality?
I take it from the many articles I read and podcasts/blogs I review that developing a large following or connections is how some self proclaimed experts feel business people should approach finding new business. Granted, placing more hooks on the line will catch more fish, but it also catches a lot of turtles, carp and drum fish…totally worthless for the food chain as well as business development.
But let me get back to the picture people are painting about golf being the anti-matter of business development. There is no argument that having a large business contact list is a valuable access. However, there is a huge difference in the volume of contacts accumulated at a quick gathering and business contacts gathered overtime who you know by first name and who you see or talk to frequently.
As far as golf covering more ground than a one on one, golf can do that also. When I mention how to go about using golf to cover more ground these people who push back from playing golf with me usually will remark by saying…
I did not think about that..
Going back to my recent LinkedIn experience, I am finding more and more people there who see gathering up 5000+ connections as being more valuable to them than playing golf. But when I tell them about inviting a few dozen people to play golf instead of just one-on-on method of communicating the light goes off in their head and they will make a statement like…
Why didn’t I think about that..
My efforts of painting a different picture of what golf is about and how it can be used to generate business instead of sapping an operations budget indicates to me that the reason people feel negatively about golf is due to them taking the advice from those who do not understand golf or how to use golf.
There are a large number of people in the world, LinkedIn included, who just don’t get it, never will get it and have a grudge against golf for a multitude of very unfounded reasons. The reasons range from..the lamest..”I don’t get golf”..to the very misinformed,..”I don’t like golf”. The reasons they don’t like golf range from ..
- ”it is too slow”,
- “not enough action”,
- “not enough violence”,
- “only whinny rich kids play it”,
..and so forth.
From what I found, 87% of the people I ran into who bash me for being a golfer have it out for golf for reasons that are based on misguided information they “heard” about golf or they took from the media coverage of some crook taking a bunch of people out to play golf on the government or company’s dime.
More has to be done to paint a clearer picture of golf. I know that there are tons of books written on golf; how golf is used in society and written on every angle of looking at golf as being more than a game. However, what is not clearly painted is that there is more to golf than what is being shown on TV, where over 90% of non-golfers and 100% of those who bash golf as worthless, are viewing golf.
So, how does a better picture get painted of golf?
I feel the answer will be found from everyone who plays golf showing more people who do not play golf what golf is truly about. This issue and other issues related to the negative image being portrayed of golf is what will be discussed at the ClamBake Cafe Summit being held in Sedona, Az in June.
I want to do what I can to help change the negative image many have of golf and bring forward a true picture of what golf can be if given a change. I realize that not everyone is going to like golf. I don’t like football, but I have real reason on why I don’t like football rather than something that is based on what I have heard about football.
So, I am out to do what I can to help golf, what are you doing? Let me know how I can help.
