Swinging for Success: How Golf Boosts Your Career – By Abdol Moabery

Author: gatelesis

The only thing in my life with more ups than downs than business has been my relationship with the game of golf.

Love/hate would be putting it lightly, not because there is any question about how much I love the game, but because there are exponential degrees of hate that apply depending on the particular shot I make or instead don’t make. Regardless, the love for golf always prevails, and I continue to pour my heart and soul into the game, and I seemingly do so without boundaries.

Boundaries, you ask? My wife and colleagues sometimes wonder if my passion or rather obsession will ever subside, but to me, I see no semblance of anything outside of the scope of normalcy.

However, let’s step back and look at my storied history with the game of golf and then assess whether I am playing outside the lines of what may be deemed reasonable.

I think about golf every day trying to figure out if there might be an angle for me to get out on the course, but unfortunately, I seem to be getting busier with work, and it has become increasingly difficult to make that happen. I am accused of this being an obsession, but I think about many different things every day, and nobody seems to tie those to obsession. To me, golf is simply a favored pastime that I can use in many aspects of my life, and when you break it down, despite all the bad shots, every day I have on the golf course is a net positive. I am outside, I am with people I want to be with, and I have the opportunity, with every shot, to accomplish something I have never done before.

By the way, that isn’t always a good thing, but a new experience all the same.

You see, I started playing golf in 1996 after feeling left out of business opportunities and social events involving golf. I was determined to learn the game and started frequenting the driving range after work and on weekends. Over the years, my golf skills improved, and my handicap ranges from mid-single digits to low teens depending on the quantity of play. I quickly noticed a correlation between my golf skills and my business success, and now 90% of my golf rounds are for business or charity. But here is the kicker, despite the errant shots and frustration I often experience, I am the luckiest guy in the world when it comes to golf. Holes-in-one? Nope, not remotely the case; in fact, I have none! My luck stems from what I have been able to experience as a result of being loosely deemed “a golfer.”

Let’s start with where I have played golf.

Countless countries on six continents thus far, and once Pete Dye builds a track on Antarctica, I will head that way, sticks in tow. I never seem to have trouble finding a game when I am on business travel, no matter where I am going. I have been invited to play in member-guest tournaments on three continents, not because I am a ringer but because my hosts know I will make the trek for a good game. My golf bag is well traveled, and if airlines would give my bag its own frequent flyer account, it would be a million miler for sure.

Now, let’s talk about the “who.” I have played golf with at least 50 PGA professionals in my lifetime, including legends like Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicholas, and Gary Player, along with several current legends like Shane Lowry, Rory McIlroy, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Louis Oosthuizen, Sergio Garica, to name a few. Yep, the dream round with Tiger is yet to happen, but there is time. Regardless, I have shared the tee box with several celebrities, Fortune 100 CEOs, members of royal families, politicians from around the world as well as the USA, and even one US President. In addition, I have built some very close friendships on the golf course, and my best friends are also my golf buddies.

My favorite round ever was with a guy 34 years my junior. I will never forget as he struts past me on the tee box as I gazed at the long drive, I piped down the middle. He set his tee and addressed the ball, ostensibly without a single swing thought, and effortlessly hit his ball fifty yards beyond mine. As he reached down to pick up his tee and glanced up at me, I knew he could see how proud I was of him. That day, I had a new golf buddy, my son, and it proved to be one of my favorite memories on the golf course.

Finally, I am not too proud to admit, I have played on many goat tracks, especially in my early days, and still had fun. However, I have also had the privilege of playing at some of the more celebrated courses around the world. I have played the Old Course in St. Andrews no less than 20 times, Pebble Beach, Riviera, LA Country Club, Winged Foot, Merion, Old Head, Kingsbarns, Crail, Waterville, Ballybunion, Lahinch, just too many to name, but those are some of my favorites.

So, I will leave it to you to decide whether my obsession with golf is stepping outside the lines of what is reasonable. When it comes to golf, I consider myself among the fortunate ones that have been able to experience the game to its absolute fullest.

I write this not to extol my experiences but rather to serve as an encouragement to allow golf to do for you what it has done for me. I am still young enough to have a lot of golf in my future, and I still have some goals and aspirations on the who and the where.

The tee box is yours. What are you waiting on?