Playing golf for business purposes can be a very challenging experience. You’re playing a very complex game that is one of the most difficult sports to master. At the same time, you’re combining it with a social interaction that has a business objective. Focus on the wrong thing and you can lose business or miss an opportunity. And the stakes are even higher! The image you project on the golf course strongly influences how others perceive you as a business person - and that can have a long range effect on your business success. No wonder so many players who feel confident and comfortable playing with friends are intimidated by the thought of playing with the boss or an important client!

Successful business golf requires that you keep your focus. This means always remembering that you’re playing for business purposes and not for recreation but at the same time playing a respectable game. You need the ability to shift between golf and business and feel comfort with both. The only way to master this is to have a strong mental game.

Until now, the mental game skills taught by sports psychologists have been pretty generic and based on research done in other sports. And often they weren’t specifically tailored to the individual. Because it was just a collection of techniques rather than a system, it’s been difficult for the average golfer to use the methods and also apply them to achieving their business objectives.

In searching for mental game strategies that would help business golfers keep their focus, I discovered GolfPsych. It’s the only golf psychology method based on scientific research done with PGA, LPGA, and Senior PGA pros. It’s also the only organized mental game system that’s tailored to the individual’s personality and needs.

The research concluded that there are eight personality traits that separate the frequent winners from the pros who only win occasionally. Although none of the pros were naturally in the Champion range on all eight traits, they’d learned to adapt their behaviors so they could think like winners. They have above average ability to concentrate and focus, and have learned to control their thoughts and manage their tension. They also prepare mentally for each round and are confident about both themselves and their performance capability.

All of this translates directly to business golf -- and beyond that, to business in general. Learning a specific mental game system can improve your golf score and can also lead to peak performance in business!! In his new book, Catchfire (1998, Ballantine Books), Peter McLaughlin identifies seven steps to top performance in business. Step 1 is "Mastering Your Mind."

McLaughlin believes that the key to thriving in today’s competitive, stressful business environment is the ability to maintain focus and manage emotions. He adds that many people don’t consider this a business skill but few things have greater impact on your overall performance. Without an awareness of your mind-set and the ability to monitor it, you "can become caught up in the hectic stream of events. You lose your sense of calm, confidence and presence and work yourself into a mental state of anger or tension that detracts from your ability to perform."

Although he’s talking about what holds us back from peak performance in business, McLaughlin’s words also apply to golf and business golf. The mental skills he identifies as critical to business success are basically the same ones that apply in golf! Focusing on score, holding on to a bad shot, letting slow play or other players upset you, or worrying about whether you should let the client win can all increase your tension and cause you to play poorly and also perform poorly in your business golf interaction.

Developing strong mental game skills in golf can help you both on and off the course. The skills you acquire - focus, tension management, decision making, setting goals and committing to them, being proactive, and thinking intuitively - will definitely help you lower your score, achieve your business golf goals, and can also lead to peak performance in business.

Bruce Crampton, who in 1986 was named Player of the Year by several publications because he won seven events and finished first on the money list, said "Golf is more in your mind then in your clubs." Still many recreational and business golfers focus only on swing mechanics and equipment and neglect their mental game. Mastering the mental game of golf can lower your handicap and enjoy the game more. It can also help you improve your bottom line in business. Developing the traits that set the champions apart can help you move to your next level of success -- in golf and in business!