Associated Press

You will need your nine iron for business school

By MEGHAN BARR, Associated Press (ASAP)
October 8, 2006

As autumn blows in a new semester at America's business schools, students from coast to coast are shouldering nine-irons and trekking out to a different sort of classroom: the driving range.

''Golf: for Business and Life,'' a class sponsored by the Professional Golf Association of America, is attracting hordes of anxious future-CEOs who are determined to master this genteel sport, a social tradition as prevalent in the business world as racking up charges on the corporate Visa card.

''We're letting students know you can use golf as a business tool, even to get a job,'' said Earnie Ellison, PGA America's director of business and community relations. ''Big corporate leaders use it as a playground for corporate relationships, but you can use it as a marketing tool.''

From the players' starched polo shirts to the manicured, sloping hills, golf is a carefully orchestrated ballet in which every stroke, every putt is scripted. But what happens when you don't know your lines?

Susan Strayer, 31, felt her ignorance of golf keenly when she entered the corporate world straight out of college and watched her colleagues play round after round without her.

''It's hard to volunteer yourself if you're not very good,'' said Strayer, now taking the PGA class at Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management. ''It's kind of like skiing: nobody wants to spend the day with someone who's not very good.''

Students bearing similar golfing scars descend upon the instructors -- mostly PGA professionals -- demanding to be first in line to sign up. Stanford University will offer 55 sections of the class this year alone.

The college initiative is funded by the PGA Foundation, a philanthropic group that has funneled more than $3.6 million into the class from members of the U.S. Ryder Cup Team, including golfing legends Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.

What sets the class apart is its razor-sharp focus on the unspoken rules of business over nine holes. The class syllabus -- distributed to 69 universities and more than 22,000 students since the class was born in 1999 -- embraces style over substance, emphasizing that proper golf etiquette is vastly more important than, say, genuine athletic skill.

Lesson No. 1: Image is everything

Players should strive to settle into the steady cadence of the game rather than draw attention to themselves, says Jim Miller, head instructor of the class at Stanford.

''It's picking up the pace, fixing ball marks, knowing when to talk, when not to talk,'' he said. ''Just making sure everybody in the group is having a good day.''

One particularly salient tutorial, entitled ''Dress for Success,'' warns against donning cutoffs or sleeveless shirts for a golf outing, favoring khakis and polos instead. Women are permitted to wear knee-length skirts, but nothing shorter, and flip flops are viewed as a major faux pas.

''You don't wear your shirt outside your pants, you don't wear your hat on backwards. It's about respect of the individual,'' Ellison said.

Lesson No. 2: Whatever you do, don't talk about business

Though the purpose of golfing with business associates is, presumably, to do business, pity the hapless novice who commits the blunder of actually mentioning business matters during a round. Such discussions should be limited to exchanging pleasantries about mutual acquaintances, the class stipulates.

''Talking business would be something after you go back to the clubhouse and maybe have lunch,'' said Gina Montana, 27, an MBA candidate at Vanderbilt. ''The nitty-gritty work aspects really come out after the game.''

Bill Gallagher, an investment banker based in Greenwich, Conn., said the hours spent on a golf course are used as ''captive time'' -- time to get to know a customer or relax with a colleague -- which provides ample opportunity to gauge a person's character and establish a deeper relationship.

Lesson No. 3: Don't cheat

Seems like a simple rule to follow, but golfers say the game is a litmus test for sizing up an acquaintance. Ethical decisions abound on the golf course, and when matters of finance are at stake, rest assured that fellow players are watching you very, very closely.

''It's a gentleman's game. You can learn a whole lot about somebody by playing with them on the golf course,'' said Randy Oehrlein, who teaches the PGA class at the University of Texas. ''If they don't handle stress very well, that will show up on the golf course.''

The PGA program was founded at Purdue University's Krannert School of Management, where MBA academic director Gerald Lynch calls the sport another avenue for social networking. Graduate business programs host a bewildering array of events geared toward mingling with fellow classmates and future employers.

Darren Miao, a graduate of the University of California's Haas School of Business, said any given evening can feature wine club gatherings, drink specials at local bars or house parties. At UCLA Andersen, first-year MBA students spent part of orientation week at a ropes course; the week culminated in an 1980s-themed party.

''You get to know more than just, here's Bob, Bob's good at accounting,'' said 25-year-old Anderson student Eric Jones. ''It's more, I play beach volleyball with him. We went skiing over fall break. Oh, and by the way, he's good at accounting -- let's bring him in on this project.''

Failing to play golf can have damaging effects on a corporate career dotted with charity golf tournaments and outings with clients, said Deborah McCrann, a retired Wall Street sales trader.

''You need to be in that social loop,'' McCrann said. ''It's just playing an adult game, like having a play date. And for the bottom line, I was able to bring in more business because of that.''