THE KILTED CADDIE
Paul McGinley laughs with businessman J.P. McManus of Ireland during the first round of 2006 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am
The
Business of
Golf
Golf opens doors. There is no doubt about it. As The Kilted Caddie writes, it is a huge plus to have on your CV whether you are applying to university or that coveted career job.
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afraid, as I made a disastrous start with one of the big four accountancy firms and am still bruised, if not damaged, by it. My auditing career was dead. Notwithstanding my somewhat unusual career path, however, golf is seen as a huge plus on a CV for a role in the City and other dynamic jobs. In fact, a recent survey found that 73% of business executives and 92% of sales executives said it had helped their careers. Indeed, for carrying out business deals too. Many top executives swear by it. I caddie for a lovely man called John Chiminski, t he Cha irma n a nd CEO of Cata lent Pharmaceuticals. He claims to have done a vast amount of business and concluded significant deals on the fairways. He also adds, rather enthusiastically, that it is where he finds out
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I
t has without doubt done me no harm and made up for significant shor tcom i ngs on my academ ic front. I almost certainly got into the University of St Andrews as a result of my 3 handicap and not on the back of my slightly lacklustre Higher Grades. That was enough to get me into the first golf team in those days, back in the early eighties. Not a scholarship of course as there was no such thing at St Andrews then. But a place at one of the finest universities in the land. Not that I ever shone there, scraping by with a solid ‘Desmond’ in Economics. However, I did get my golf colours, had a fling with the prettiest girl in the university and a job in the City, for what it was worth (the job I mean!). It can do you no harm in your business career either. Not ultimately for me, I’m
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Tiffany Chan, who has gained her LPGA card in 2018, is an excellent example of Hong Kong golfers being granted golf scholarships in the US to further their careers
Natalie Gulbis (right) and Michelle Wie (left) talks as they walk down the fairway during an LPGA tournament – Should the LPGA restrict the dress code of tour players?
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university emblazoned golf bags, proudly carried on their backs. Such a far cry to the eighties when only a handful of female students played. A shame. L o o k a t D o n a l d Tr u m p n o w. N o t r e g a rd i n g h i s s e x i n e s s o f c o u r s e b u t concerning golf. For it is his big business. In fact, he has made it a rather lucrative one at that and even now manages to do a bit of work in his new job at The Oval Office in between rounds. Mind you he is a genius of course. Although I presume he won’t be talking business on the golf course these days as President, as he’s not allowed. He is reputedly a pretty canny golfer. Perhaps as good a golfer as Obama? Albeit I know who has an infinitesimal better chance of being put up for the R&A and it’s not Donald. There are some things which money certainly can’t buy. Golf courses yes, even iconic Scottish championship golf courses. But as for obtaining membership at certain clubs? That is a mighty different matter. Now, it is interesting that the two people I know who have turned down offers to join the R&A are not in the world of business. One is a QC and the other a doctor. I dare say that if a chap in the City were offered to be ‘put up’ he would rather bite your hand off at
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the chance. In fact, I’d bet some would offer to pay rather a lot of money to be ‘put up’? It’s certainly a good card to have. I certainly know of a few Far Eastern businessmen who were more than happy to have had lunch and a wee tour around that famous club. I was speaking to a hedge fund manager last summer, Yann, who casually dropped in that he was joining Wentworth and paying the 130,000 pounds like it was a throwaway fiver. I wonder what he’d pay to get in the R&A? We got onto talking about the rather magnificent and pricey houses adorning the Wentworth course. I told him that my father had a friend who had owned one, the big one by the seventeenth green. Anyway, I added that the chap ended up in Wandsworth to which Yann replied, ‘Oh it’s nice there too’. To which I replied, ‘No, the prison!’ And he laughed. It is nice to see now that a few young HK golfers are applying for and being granted golf scholarships in the US to further their careers. Most notably, Tiffany Chan, who has just gained her LPGA card, coming second in Q School. Incredible opportunities are open nowadays. I heard a lovely story just yesterday from an old Edinburgh acquaintance. His daughter was a hockey internationalist and didn’t start golf till her first year at university studying
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architecture. She went from a twenty handicap to a five in that year and then got a Clive Woodward Foundation scholarship to focus on her golf. She took a ‘sabbatical’ and was based at Wentworth playing golf full time. She got to plus 3 in her couple of years there and had just turned pro! In this case, it is not back to the drawing board for her just yet! However, a word of caution. Youngsters who make golf their career and business should appreciate how lucky they are and not be consumed by it to the detriment of themselves. I think this happened to Tiger. It destroyed him. And I have heard shocking stories of top pros arriving on the first tee at Pro-Am to tell their amateur partners that they don’t give advice and that they don’t talk! Moreover, I witnessed first-hand the awful behaviour of one young pro in the Dunhill last year towards his distinguished amateur playing partner, which honestly made me cringe. I will leave with the most wise and poignant words of HK based golfer Jean van de Velde who says, ‘if you let golf define you as a person then you are a loser’. It is only a game, albeit a potentially life changing game at that. Please go to thekiltedcaddie.com to find out more about The Kilted Caddie.
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most of the people too. It’s an instead characterrevealing game. Mr Trump takes note. Is this why St Andrews is such a popular university for American and Asian kids now? The importance and role of golf in this ever more competitive world? Seemingly over 25% of the university population in this ancient university is from the US now. I wonder what percentage of them play golf or indeed take up the game here? Same for our Asian students. Would it be interesting to find out? And it is a career enabler that I think a lot of women are turning to the game. In fact, who can blame young women in America being attracted to it given the abundance of unclaimed golf scholarships flying around? I mean it can be an awful lot of money towards your fees. A lthough I think golf is also perceived as a much sexier game nowadays, this is undoubtedly a massive plus and a huge draw for all and sundry. And in this vein, I don’t quite know what the LPGA is up to in restricting the dress code of tour players? It’s the 21st century. Women have a vote and can get into the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers and the R&A for goodness sake. Sex iness cou nts a nd is a huge factor in growing the game I would say. In St Andrews, I see many pretty, and sprightly looking young women with their smart
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