Tips for Conducting Business on a Golf Course

Doing business on the golf course is nothing new, and  in light of the game that took place last week between President Obama and Speaker of the House John Boehner Hopkins Patch spoke to a local golf professional to get tips about talking business on the links.

Ed Bialek works in the pro shop at the Oak Ridge Country Club in Hopkins and gave Patch a list of things to do when conducting business during a round of golf.

1. Tip One: Try to build a relationship with your playing partner. “Forging a relationship with the person during the game will help when you start to talk about business,” Bialek said.

2. Tip Two: Get to know about their family which will also help build a relationship.

3. Tip Three: Don’t talk about any controversial subjects including politics or religion, these tend to ignite arguments.

4. Tip Four: Parallel the golf game to the business relationship. “Doing this will help the other person open up to you more.”

5. Tip Five: Use the time in between shots while walking down the fairway to discuss business.

6. Tip Six: Talk about other golf courses you have both played or just about the sport. Its universality can help create a good business relationship.

7. Tip Seven:  In the earlier part of the round strike up friendly conversation, later you can talk about business.