Inside Out | Executive golfing: nothing more than ‘crack cocaine for rich guys’ or corporate money well spent?
Donald Trump is allegedly spending one in five days on a golf course, but top execs around the world would probably swear blind they agree with the US president, and that it’s the perfect venue for talking serious business
I have a problem with golf. No, I don’t mean I have a problem with my swing, or with putting, or with getting out of bunkers. I mean I have a problem with golf itself.
I have issues with the role it plays in business life – and that’s not just because Donald Trump, instead of concentrating on doing a good job of ruling the world’s most important economy, is allegedly spending one in five days on a golf course.
My problem with golf goes back a long way, and is rooted in pure and simple jealousy. As a working-class kid in an English grammar school, it was only the rich kids who played golf. When I could not even afford a bike, they would be spending unimaginably huge sums on swanky equipment, and complaining about losing golf balls that cost as much as a week’s pocket money.
My second emotional encounter with the problem of golf arose when I was a young journalist at the Financial Times. We hacks worked interminable hours, late into most evenings.
The polished and smartly-besuited advertising and marketing staff were gone by 5pm, and most galling of all, they took every Friday off to entertain clients on the golf course.
