Taking a chip shot: Golf techniques for precision plays in business

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Golf coach Simon Holmes talks strategy, performing under pressure and risk management.

Golf and business have long been linked, and not just because playing a few rounds with clients was traditionally seen as a networking opportunity. In fact, the two have a surprising number of parallels. From leadership to planning and how to perform well under pressure, there are many techniques that translate from the bunker to the boardroom – as respected British golf coach Simon Holmes who has taught over 100 tournament pros can attest.

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A junior golfer who pivoted to coaching after a serious hand injury in the early 90s, Simon started out working with Nick Faldo at the height of his career (other big-name players he has trained include Bernard Langer, Nik Price, and Seve Ballesteros). Fast forward to today, and, alongside coaching the likes of Colin Montgomerie, he has an eponymous golf academy aimed at all abilities, regularly appears on the Sky Sports presenting panel, and holds seminars for global tech and finance companies.

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‘At a certain point I began meeting CEOs and saw that many of them were completely unprepared if, for instance, the stock market crashed,’ he recalls, of when he realised that sports strategy could be successfully applied to the world of business too. ‘They led in a very chaotic, stressful way. Why wouldn't you have a document that details three possible stock market scenarios? If it does crash you can refer to the plan, rather than having a complete panic. The way they prepared their teams versus how incredibly precisely sportsmen are prepared was so different. Coaches don’t want peaks and troughs: we strive for consistency.’

Central to having a long-term vision is, he says, focusing on the process itself rather than immediate results. ‘Sometimes a ball goes in the hole, sometimes it doesn’t, but as a player the needle shouldn’t move either way. Success and failure are only outcomes: they’re not to do with process.’ In other words, wins and losses need to be built into a wider blueprint for success – a future-forward outlook that benefits business too, whether the aim is to achieve sustainable growth or expand market share.

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Firstly, Simon believes that as a leader it’s impossible to implement change quickly or for a team as a whole. Instead, it’s about honing in on the skills, strengths and weaknesses of each individual. ‘In my experience, often the expectations of business managers around how much their employees can change is way too big. Think about a football team: you train each player and upgrade their skills. Then when they come back together, they should work more efficiently to achieve their collective goals and communicate better as a unit. It’s the same in business. To expect change overnight is setting everyone up to fail.’

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He believes that sportsmen are very good at concentrating on specific areas of their game that need improving. ‘As a former player, I’ve always been conscious of the bandwidth that someone can handle when they are trying to win a big championship under the spotlight,’ he says. ‘It’s a case of simplifying as much as possible, and isolating one or two skills to upgrade. That way, whatever’s going on around them, they can keep going with those two thoughts.’

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The same process is applied whether someone is about to take their first putt or the winning shot of the game. ‘I build a routine, a step-by-step process. Perhaps they always take their gloves off while they reset and work out how they’re going to execute their next move, so that even when performing under pressure, nothing changes,’ he says. Such a methodical approach could, of course, be equally useful in business during key decision-making moments or when handling high-stakes negotiations.

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Alex Vukajlovic, Cape’s Founder and CEO agrees with Simon’s sentiments, and as an avid golfer himself draws his own parallels between golfing and industry;

“Golf is a great leveller – there’s no place for egos on the golf course, just as there isn’t when you’re managing other people’s money. Making an error of judgement for the sake of riding a trend or looking to find a moment to shine, is a big mistake and will be hard, if not impossible, to come back from. Golf, like investing, is a game of consistency, staying the course and remaining humble.”

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While both golfers and those in business can better their own performance, there are many external factors that can’t be controlled, from opponent strategies to shifting landscapes (both literally on a golf course, or in, for instance, market conditions). ‘Golfers who play well, evaluate the situation in a tournament and adapt by choosing the best option available. If my opponent has three birdies in a row, I can’t do anything about that. All I can do is adjust my game in a calm, considered manner and navigate the changing environment,’ he says.

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Much like in circumstances where markets are volatile and there is financial risk, ‘golfers are managing risk all the time, playing against an unknown outcome.’ And it’s the job of the coach (or business leader) to ensure that his team or players have the diagnostic toolkit they need to do that. ‘As a leader, your decisions impact the team below that you're trying to support. A stable process gives confidence all the way through the chain,’ continues Simon.

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‘We don’t move quickly in sports but we really take care that we are going in the right direction; I don’t necessarily see that as a thread in some corporate organisations.’

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Perhaps most of all though, he thinks that it’s important to be mentally present, whatever industry you’re in. ‘Where you've come from is not as impactful as where you are going. If someone is stressed about a previous loss, they aren’t going to be efficient now. Golfers are very good at forgiving their successes and failures, and coming back the next day with the same attitude.’

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