Hospitality and Strategy
Greetings Golfers,
The other day, I was talking to a local high school basketball coach. She’s really fun to talk to. She gets sports … and she gets life.
She’s had a lot of success and it’s easy to see why. But it hasn’t been easy. Mix in kids and parents and talent (or lack of) and expectations … you’ve got the makings for a crazy stew.
However, she can deal with those ingredients and make it work.
What is her secret? I think it’s strategy.
She talked about how much fun it is to beat a talented team when you don’t have much talent.
I agree. How much fun is it to shoot a good golf score when you’re not hitting it very well? A lot of fun.
Played golf the other day with some guys in crazy windy conditions. To survive was all about strategy and short-game. But a good short-game wasn’t enough … not if you’re constantly in hazards or out-of-bounds.
Power in those conditions is only a strength if well managed. Just trying to over-power the course in that wind only leads to crazy situations.
I wanted to work-in both strategy and hospitality into this blog. Wasn’t sure how … but I think I do now. How do they both deal with power?
Hospitality : “The generous and friendly reception of guests”.
This is not a master-slave relationship.
Uncontrolled power works about as well in relationships as in golf. You’ll wind-up in bad situations … and very often out-of-bounds.
That is not winning … that is bad strategy.
The key to strategy is planning ahead. You treat people poorly … you’ll lose up the road. You hit it far but past the landing-zone into the woods … you’re in trouble.
Back to our high school basketball coach. Not only is she a master of strategy on the court … she’s a master of strategy with hospitality … she’s really good with people.
People who are really good with people … do not over-use their power. They save it. They only use it when they need to. They are friendly and generous.
And they’re fun to play golf with.
Cheers!
Tom Abts
GM/Head PGA Professional
tabts@deerrungolf.com