by: Roderick Fraser

Golf is the sport of excellence and more. In exploring the relationship between golf and business, we can take a closer look at two themes of experience, two levels of conversation that weave together and through each other.

The first is your personal experience and how golf is a pathway to personal and business excellence. Secondly is the experience with others to create relationship often referred to as Business Golf.

Golf a trance of frustration or a powerful meditation

Many people experience golf as a blend of a few moments of elation and generally a whole lot of frustration without ever knowing why.

A few have been fortunate or intelligent in discovering that golf is another expression of any ancient art. That golf is a magnificent meditation in the art of intentionality, blending the use of mind, physiology and use of energy to create a clear intention and outcome.

The doorway to high performance is through relaxation, awareness, a decision, commitment and focus. To achieve this there is some learning required at the level of principle, in mind, physiology, language, emotion and skill, a cybernetic loop where each one impacts the other, an integrated whole.

Golf is a mind, physiology and skill game

We are creators of our reality every second of every day. Golf is no different to life or business in this.

Without the right learning, Golf is a mystery where without knowing it you are working against yourself, right down to your choice of golf clubs and golf ball, let alone poor thinking that defeats you over the ball.

Saying to yourself "don't hit it in the water, again" is like yelling to children "don't run". You set yourself up. Having a head full of swing thoughts will kill any shot.

Tiger Woods says "It is a thinking man or woman's game. The psychology of golf entails mental toughness, self confidence, intimidation, gamesmanship, conquering inner demons, instant recall of past successes and being able to purge failures. It is the game within the game".

Learn the mind game and you will transform your golf and much more. I have found golf is a powerful metaphor with direct transfer into how you think and do your role in business.

Lessons from a Chairman

For instance, working with a Chairman from a reasonable sized accounting firm in Sydney Australia recently, he got some valuable lessons through 9 holes of on-course coaching.

Firstly, to be at your best you need to relax. The simplest way to do this is to breathe. Secondly, he got that the target is more important than the ball. Which is more important? Where the ball is or where you want it to land or finish up? It's a rhetorical question.

Yet where do most golfers focus?

>From the ball your trajectory is infinite. The target is finite.

The third lesson was this – it's one thing to make a decision, you also need to commit to it. Without commitment you only have doubt and play to doubt or even worse still, fear. That's a 100% chance of success to get what you don't want.

Golf coaching may have mislead you

As golf stands today Chuck Hogan puts it beautifully, "it isn't golf that is such a difficult game, it's how it is taught that makes it quite impossible".

Golf coaching in the last thirty years or so got caught up in focussing on swing, technique and technology. Problem is, golf professionals didn't mention in their pursuit of excellence that they still work on golf as a mind, physiology game. The average golfer saw only part of the territory and thought it was the map.

A path to excellence

Learning the mind/body game is long overdue if you are serious in your pursuit of high performance and excellence in golf or business.

It's your choice, you can relax and find your natural golf game or you can exhaust yourself through frustration and working against yourself at every level. Golf is a great leveler and reveals who people are.

Mind game mastery is certainly something that can transform you. It can help you lower your score, enjoy your golf, change your level of being in business, and build relationships.

Business Golf – building relationships beyond you

Another side to golf is that it is a great tool for meeting people, discovering who they are and creating intimacy. You can discover how people think, how they make decisions, their strategy, and get to know them under pressure.

There is no better way to get to know someone than out in nature surrounded by negative ions recharging the mind and body.

Meeting Key Influencers

Playing golf with another person or in a group is a great way to network, to create relationships beyond business.

You might go to a networking event that is designed for key influencers to meet and get to know each other. It could be a one day golf coaching intensive or a five day networking event under the banner of Business Golf.

Building value in key relationships

There is an important lesson in business beyond knowing who your market is, who your key clients are and how much they are worth to you. It's to get close to your key clients and stay close to them.

Business Golf has now become a serious means of creating client intimacy beyond crude database driven CRM. This is hands-on client relationship management and building.

The best part is, it's personal.

Conclusion

If you truly want to be at your best in business, relax more and get some balance. You need to be at your best in mind, body and emotions to make good decisions, to contribute and to fulfill your role with integrity.

It's not about working ridiculous hours, exhausting yourself and running on empty.

Business is about being your best, to do your best and building strong, long lasting relationships. Golf is a great conduit for business excellence.