Establishing Links
Senior sales executive Marion Bauer still remembers the day she closed a key deal with the executive director of a large Los Angeles law firm.
For Bauer, the friendly, informal discussion last fall led to several bigger contracts for Merrill Corp., a document management company in Los Angeles where she has worked since 1990. But what made the meeting unusual was its setting.
“They announced to me that I had gotten the contract on the first tee of the golf course, which was very exciting,” Bauer said. “It’s what the guys have been doing for years--building relationships on the golf course.”
Bauer, like many other female executives, is finding that one of her most valuable business tools is her set of golf clubs.
As more women join the executive ranks or start their own businesses, they are discovering that a game of golf with a client or an associate can offer a real business edge. Businesswomen report that relationships forged during golf games are leading to promotions, business deals and new partnerships. Exchanges of personal and company insights that might seem out of place during a formal business meeting often flow freely during a stroll on the green.
Bauer had been an occasional player before her outing with the law firm executive. During subsequent games, the two forged a strong business relationship--one Bauer is convinced wouldn’t have emerged without the link to the links.
“Women finding themselves in more male-dominated professions are realizing they have to have this as part of their repertoire,” said Nancy Oliver, founder of the Executive Women’s Golf Assn. The West Palm Beach, Fla.-based organization has 13,000 members in 90 chapters across the country, including Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego, and gives businesswomen a chance to practice their game.
Nancy Katayama, a senior tax manager with Ernst & Young in Irvine, plays golf with clients to build tighter relationships.
“A lot of my clients who are high-net-worth individuals enjoy the game of golf,” she said.
Katayama had only been playing golf a few months when she learned about the Executive Women’s Golf Assn. Today, she is president of the 280-member Los Angeles chapter, which includes bankers, mortgage brokers, insurance agents, chief executives and chief financial officers of large companies.
“There’s so much interest, it’s incredible,” she said.
In the United States, there are 5.2 million amateur female golfers--21% of all golfers--but they make up about 32% of the 2 million beginners, according to the Jupiter, Fla.-based National Golf Foundation, a trade group. These women account for about 20% of the $15 billion spent on golf each year.
Despite the growing number of female golfers, many private clubs still restrict prime tee times to their male members, said Leslie Day, editor of Golf for Women magazine.
“The game is going to have to grow and answer the needs of all its players,” she said.
While shooting a birdie isn’t necessarily the goal for business players, proper etiquette on the course should be, said Suzanne Woo, who runs a Berkeley-based golf training business called Golf 101. Among Woo’s clients are professional business associations, such as Executive Women International, Commercial Real Estate Women and Women in International Trade.
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Woo’s lessons help business players--both men and women--focus more on rules and courtesy than on swinging a club. Woo calls it “manners versus mechanics.”
“In business golf, don’t worry about your score,” Woo told a client during a recent coaching session. “You’re not there to play well; you’re there to make a connection.”
Woo and others say that even if the object of an outing is to get to know the client better, it’s important to avoid the “no-no’s”: jiggling coins, snapping the Velcro on golf gloves and walking in front of someone’s putting line.
“Just because you can hit a golf ball doesn’t mean you can play golf,” said Los Angeles golf pro Helene Landers. “Hitting the ball is a quarter of what the game is about.”
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Landers, whose video, “The Women’s Golf Guide,” focuses on rules and etiquette, said business golfers do more harm than good if they don’t get some of the basics down before inviting a client or even the boss out for a game.
“You wouldn’t go into a business meeting without your presentation prepared,” she said. “Likewise, you shouldn’t go onto the course without knowing how to play the game.”
In addition, golfers can learn a lot about potential business partners by the way they play the game, Woo said. She is developing a seminar aimed at stockbrokers looking for insights into their client’s tolerance for risk.
For example, she noticed one potential partner had an excellent drive but rarely pushed the shot as far as he could for fear of risking an out-of-bounds.
“I knew I’d need to show him the benefits of any risks up front,” she said. “In negotiating deals, you want that kind of inside information.”
If an opponent consistently fails to call a penalty stroke, Woo said, it might indicate someone who is not very detail-oriented, or worse, someone who consciously cheats. And, she said. “if someone’s very hard on themselves, then you have to wonder, are they going to be very realistic with you?”
