LESSONS I LEARNED FROM GOLF. LESSON #2: MAKE DECISIONS BASED ON FACTS, NOT SOMEONE'S REPUTATION...

How often do we judge a situation and render our decision based on someone's reputation? It happens all the time: with our children, family or friends... and with "not so good friends". As a golf professional, I have learned never to give a rules decision until I have all facts. And though the following story is not about rules, it shows that people render decisions based on reputations more often than in facts.

This was a funny story which caused an error in judgment that fortunately did not hurt anyone. I had two really good friends, both pretty decent golfers with whom I shared many good moments. Rick and Joe, in their primes, carried a single digit handicap. Rick was very private and usually played with a close group of friends. Joe, was very outgoing, had his own business, and even had an unsuccessful bid for our town's mayor's office.

Joe loved to play with as many different people as possible. They shared several traits: both had a tremendous reputation for being honest, both liked to tinker with new equipment trends and have me modify equipment, both had a very good sense of humor, both liked to play for a little money, both liked to do things their own way and help others, so both reached the office of president of the Men's Golf Association, both liked to play in our local men's only events, both liked to go play out of town at least once a month, both participated in our most popular statewide events, both had many friends (and a loving family)... and both had a terrible temper on the course!

Among all of these similarities, there were some differences, the main one being that only Joe had the reputation for bad temper. They dealt with anger differently: Joe was less forgiving of an offending, embarrassment causing golf club, so he seldom repaired a broken culprit and was often cast into exile in the back of his garage... or in the trash. On the other hand, Rick, who would never admit that he had made a wrong choice in selecting a particular club, would have it repaired, often reaching the same results a few weeks, if not only a few days later.

If Rick was having a bad day on the course, he would "torture" himself and continue playing. Some, who did not witness Rick's anger, took this as Rick being patient, but the truth is that he was just self inflicting more pain, often murmuring, "See how it feels? Come on! You like hitting bad shots? OK, lets hit a few more if that is what you like!" On the other hand, if Joe was playing poorly and couldn't turn things around, he'd take $100 bill out of his wallet, leave it in someone's cart, walk off the course and come back and get his change later. It was a way of cooling down. To him, there was no sense on adding to his frustrations by torturing himself any longer. There was always another sunny day ahead. These sudden departures though, actually had the wrong effect as they added to Joe's reputation for bad temper.

One day, they both were paired in a men's tournament. After the round, while busy in the shop taking scores and waiting on other golfers to go out, several of us saw Joe walking to the pro-shop with five or six broken clubs. Everyone started laughing. There were several comments, but most of them were something like, "Hey Pro, look, Joe most have had a bad round. Here comes some club repair business your way!". Joe walked in the shop, greeted everyone, walked right up me, placed the clubs on the service counter and with a smile, he said, "Here Pro. I want you know that you would have been proud of me. I helped Rick pick up his broken clubs all day long. He asked me to drop them for repair, he'll pick them up later. He went home to pout about his 98!" Even after that episode, Joe's reputation never changed: Joe continued to have the reputation of the "baddest", worst tempered guy in Gallup's golf! But again, now we know he wasn't!