Golf Cheats May Be Bad in Business, Too

Beware of golf-playing executives who come home with broken clubs and soggy shoes yet carrying score cards that would make even Jack Nicklaus blush.

Top managers who tend to move the ball to get a better lie or conveniently forget a flubbed stroke when keeping score are also more likely to cheat in business, according to a study for Hyatt Hotels Corp. by Research & Forecasts Inc.

“Golf shows an extension of one’s personality,” said Mesa Inc. Chairman T. Boone Pickens, one of 401 executives that participated. “If a person is aggressive on the golf course, he or she will be aggressive in business.”

Forty-seven percent of the respondents said practices on the golf course mirror those in the board room. Asked if they ever cheated at golf, 55% said yes. More than one-third that admitted cheating at golf said they also have lied in business.

The results are noteworthy because golf and business are linked, the study found. “Some of my biggest deals were made on the golf course,” one executive said.

In fact, over 90% of those surveyed said playing golf allows for closer business relationships, and 80% said golf is a good way to make new contacts.