Golf course etiquette - Brief Article

Black Enterprise, Jan, 1999 by Ann Brown

Carl Williams, founder of Sports & Entertainment, Inc., an L.A.-based company that manages several NBA players, makes time for a round of golf when he's traveling on business. "I'll go by myself and get put on with a threesome looking for a fourth person. By the end of the game, you've exchanged business cards and numbers." But there is an art to smoothing the game of golf into business. Consider this:

1. Select the type of course. Some public courses are well managed and groomed, but you may want the privacy and perks of a private club. If you're not a great player, don't pick a tough course.

2. Learn all you can about the course before signing up a potential client to play there with you; you don't want any surprises.

3. Know the rules of the game.

4. Be prepared to play when it's your turn. As soon as the previously played ball has come to a stop, be ready to swing.

5. Don't play slow. Four golfers who don't normally break 100 should finish in four hours or less.

6. Talk only between holes, not between swings, and know what you want to discuss before the game.

7. Suggest a drink in the club afterward, something Williams always does. "It gives you more time to bond with the people you've played with," he says.