Women take up golf - in some cases because their companies suggest it. Think of the corporations that maintain club memberships just to entertain clients. Increasingly, women play because their careers can't survive without it.As women make inroads into middle or upper level management positions in a variety of fields, the advantages associated with playing golf provides are abundantly clear.
Playing golf enhances your standing among colleagues and clients
According to The Grass Ceiling, Inc.'s Rose Harper-Elder, president and CEO of the consulting group, golf provides an opportunity for women to prove themselves and their abilities to their male colleagues.Unlike direct competition on the job, women who excel on the green do not make themselves vulnerable to the same career hazards and risks they would face going head-to-head in the office. Golf is a chance for women to earn the respect of men in a friendly, non-threatening environment.
Rachel M. Galusha, Vice President and Senior Business Relationship Manager with HSBC Bank USA, has been playing golf for the past three years and was pragmatic about her decision to take up the sport:
I've noticed that for women in business, if you didn't play golf you weren't included. One female colleague who played was always included. I made a New Year's resolution to learn how to play and encouraged my colleagues to do the same. Playing in the outings that the bank sponsors and customers sponsor is essential to creating relationships and doing business.Golf For Women editor Susan Reed notes that "men know how hard the game is; if a woman has the guts and the persistence and the character to play it, they respect that."
Golf provides opportunities to network and get to know others on a more personal level.
Mark Twain famously said, "Golf is a good walk spoiled."Susan Reed defines it as "basically, an x-ray into someone's character in four hours," and provides a persuasive list of benefits:
We live in such a busy, stressful world where everyone is multi-tasking. It's very rare that anybody spends four hours with another person these days, colleagues or family. And that's four uninterrupted hours, free of cell phones and blackberries (which are prohibited on golf courses).If you think about it, a business meeting or a sales call or a business lunch usually lasts an hour at most.
A round of golf lasts four hours; you talk about each others' families, about work, about attitudes towards business and life.
You can see whether someone is honest by the way they keep their score; whether they're considerate and alert and socially gracious by the way they play the game.
Golf expands your circle of contacts, especially if you're new to the community.
Marci Henderson moved from the state of Washington to upstate New York to become Regional CEO of the American Red Cross. Not only was she a stranger to the community, she was unable to take part in one of the organization's biggest fundraisers - a charity golf tournament - because she didn't play:
I was a complete novice but I do have a little bit of athletic ability, so I took lessons so I could play in the tournament. It was captain and crew, so I was paired with three men - all board members - and I played well enough to hold my own. After the fundraiser, I joined a local golf club and played in the league there. What I valued most was the weekly discipline to go out and play. It helped me meet a lot of nice people very quickly.Although golf is commonly associated with the private sector and for-profit companies, Henderson feels it has great value for non-profit organizations:
The reason people link sales and golf is because historically the game has been played by men. But what golf offers - the ability to form mutually beneficial associations - that's equally valuable to not-for-profits. It's all about the relationships.Those relationships have led valued community leaders to share their skills with Henderson's organization. One woman chaired a fundraising breakfast honoring local Red Cross heroes; she then became a Board member and extended her commitment by chairing yet another event.
Henderson can't recommend enough the value of making professional connections through the vehicle of golf:
It's one of the best decisions I've made in terms of meeting new friends and developing relationships. It's been really good for the Red Cross - I've gotten support from other women I've met to grow this organization.I made the decision to learn to play golf for one small reason - to support our charity tournament. And the benefits of taking up the sport are more than I could have anticipated.
