A Good Walk Spoiled

I once knew a wizened public relations professional who spent the majority of his career at the Ford Motor Co. In his college days, he played golf for the University of North Carolina, which in the early 1950s was one of the powerhouses of collegiate links. Each year they routinely would drub interstate rival Wake Forest University until one day the UNC coach warned his players that WFU had recruited this strapping 18-year old from Pittsburgh, who, reportedly, could drive the ball 300-yards plus.

UNC’s dominance came to abrupt end the first time their team saw Arnold Palmer walk out of the locker room, a blond Adonis in a white T-shirt whose broad shoulders looked capable of seating a family of four for dinner. He teed up the ball on the practice tee and calmly sent it to the next county.

The match was over before the first stroke.

Even though I’m not a golfer, I was saddened to read the passing of a legend, who left legions of fans and admirers not to mention being instrumental in elevating the game to the national and global reach it enjoys today.

This in a roundabout way brings us to the topic de jour. 

First, apologies to Mark Twain for plagiarizing one of his greatest lines when describing golf in today’s title. I was always aware of the enormous social aspect of the game and its potential for new business development and relationship building.  But my parents steered me toward tennis as a youth reminding me that it was what they termed a “carryover” sport – meaning that once you got too old for half-court basketball or flag football, you can enjoy it well into your senior citizenry.

But guess what? Exactly no one plays tennis – or at least I’ve never run into a corporate outing that featured a “tennis scramble.” So when my colleagues schedule golf outings with our CPA firm clients, which from April through October is quite often, I’m usually left looking for something bright and shiny to play with. And if I ever happen to find myself in a meeting where the conversation has veered from M&A and succession planning to who played what course over the past year, I’ve learned to excuse myself and get something to eat because it’s going to be a while before they get back on topic.

I suppose it’s not too late to pick up the game, but somehow at my age I don’t have the time or the patience anymore to learn something from scratch or shake off the humiliation of whiffing on the ball or slicing it into the woods.

Tennis anyone?

Not!