Procrastination and Golf

By Jack Dionne

my mail the other day. It is from the other great and good thing in this world-it can be sadly friend of mine, a very busy and suc- overdone, over-worked, misused.

"My boss is out playing golf this afternoon. I wish to give you an inspiration for a subject for one of your "live wire" sermons, which appear regularly in your paper, and which I, as regularly, have to copy and send to each of our many ernployes in the field, to read and digest for all they are worth. Such is the boss' regard for your propaganda. "PROCRASTINATION" is my subject. Deal with it as you will, just so you tell ALL it stands for, and how easy it is to fall a victim to its wiles when your old pal calls you by phone, and wants you to take the afternoon off {or golf. Please treat this as strictly confidential, or f rnight be looking for another boss, by request."

Dear Secretary, I am delighted to comply with your request, and take up cudgels against "Procrastination."

But when you assume that "Procrastination" and "Gol{" are synonimous, I may have to "rare back" some.

I have no excuse to offer for the lazy man. I have no sympathy with the fellow who only partly does his rightful job. I have nothing but contempt for the n'an who jtrst cloes enongh to "get by." I think a lazy man, a procrastinating man, is close akin to a rascal, because he cheats l.rimself, and cheats others in so doing. I kneel at the shrine o{ the Goddess of Virility. I admire the fellow with a whole lot of energetic "punch" in his activities' If you hadn't connectecl up Golf with Procrastination in your note, I might gladly have undertaken the job of expatiating on tl-re sin of slothfullness.

But linking the tr,r'o together in the way you have, casts too direct an aspersion upon one of my pet sins, hobbies, or whatever you may choose to call it.

There is SOME truth-great possibilities for truth as a matter of fact-in your innuendo, because golf is like any

I would say that up to a certain point Golf is NOT procrastination; past that point is DOES become procrastination, the degree of .the sin increasing with the distance PAST.

Remember the old adage of pre-golf days: "To be a good billiard player is the mark of a well rounded education; to be too good a billiard player, is the evidence of a misspent youth."

And so it is with the kingly game of Golf.

If you use it intelligently and correctly, colrelating it with your business in such a way that the business is HELPED as a result-then it is a blessing, in addition to being a tremendous joy.

But if you permit it to rep.lace your business, to interfere with your business, to be anything on earth but an asset to your business-then indeed you have misplaced your golf.

"Golf" says the pessimist, "is a game that needlessly prolongs the life of a lot of very useless men."

Goli DOES prolong the life of a whole lot of men. And in addition it prolongs and intensifies the service-giving ability of a whole lot more men. It cheats the hospitals and sanitariums out of a world of business. It clears the eye of liver spots. It clears the brain of worry-wrinkles.

The Good Book says that in order to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven you must "become as a little child." Then truly is Golf closely related to that Kingdom, for in Golf, and in Goli only, does the business man become "as a little child." There is no other form of mental diversion that so absolutely and utterly removes all your troubles except Golf troubles; and Golf troubles won't hurt you.

The Tired Business Man goes to his golf, and regard(Continued on Page 24.)