Benefits of replacing meetings with tee times
NEW YORK (FOX 5 NY) - $8.5 million are up for grabs on Long Island this weekend as The Barclays takes over The Black Course at Bethpage State Park.
I walked the course before the PGA Tournament started and talked with Golfing Magazine Publisher John Glozek about merging your golf game with your business.
We've all heard the expression that a bad day on the golf course is still better than a good day at work, right?
Well, what if your day on the golf course was work? Glozek argues we should be using golf to get ahead, replacing boring meetings with tee times.
Glozek says it's all about being out on the golf course on a beautiful day with potential clients and customers, developing relationships.
In his new book, Business Golf: The Best Meeting You'll Ever Have, Glozek argues that it's time you started swinging your club as a business tool.
He says he picked up golf working at Grumman Aerospace Corporation on Long Island when he was 28. At the time, 30,000 people worked there and just about everybody played golf. Glozek realized if he wanted to move up the corporate ladder, he needed to play, too.
Since leaving Grumman, Glozek's gone on to become the publisher of Golfing Magazine and says playing the game has made it infinitely easier to do business.
He says business contacts usually returns his phone calls when he reaches out, because they think he's going to ask them to play golf.
And Glozek isn't the only one who says golf is great for business.
Big CEOs tell him they often close major deals right on the green.
Glozek says he was sitting on the tee box with the president of a major airline and asked how much business he does on the golf course. That president said 'Well, I call up Boeing, we go play golf, and I order airplanes.'
Glozek even talked to Donald Trump who calls golf a "brain game that serves me well on many levels because I approach it as a game and a business tool."
Trump has acquired some of the best golf courses in the world, but you don't have to be in the golf business or running for President like Trump.
No matter what your skill level or where you rank in the business world, golf can still boost your career.
Glozek says it's about having a good time and developing a relationship. It's not about your score or how well you play. It's not even about how well your clients play. It's about having an enjoyable day.
Just remember two golden rules: don't make the day feel like a sales call and don't throw your golf club.Glozek says he's seen two or three golf clubs thrown in his day, and he'll never forget who did it or where they were.
Glozek says with over 140 golf courses, nearly two million rounds of golf are played on Long Island alone each year and a lot of them are for business.
He says you don't want to miss out on key conversations because you don't play.