Europe-PH News
Golf Is Better Than...
May 27, 2013
Rodel Alzona
Europe-PH News
One of the items on my bucket list is to one day play golf on a regular basis, be it weekly, monthly, every three months, heck, I would even agree if it is once a year. Let me just play the game.
The closest thing to playing golf for me is the online games on my Nokia E7 phone. And when I say play, I mean, I play it very seriously.
My thinking is that if someone like Charles Barkley can actually play the game even with his very horrible swing and form, how much more bad can it go for me?
I have watched golf tournaments on television, know the rules of the game, and read about the game. The only thing missing is me actually setting foot on the greens of a golf course and have someone teach me the fundamentals.
Last Monday I had the chance to have a long talk with European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) former president and current golf event chairman William Bailey at the Sta. Elena Golf & Country Club in Laguna during the group’s annual golf competition.
Bill, as he is commonly known in the business and golfing community, gave me another perspective on golf.
He did not actually blurt it out. Neither did I ask it. But maybe, just maybe, golf is much better than “you know what.”
According to Mr. Bailey, people play golf to relax. But then he added a caveat that eventually you cannot relax during a golf game and it becomes frustrating.
With “you know what,” you actually do not get to relax. There might even be anxiety attacks, and it is also frustrating if it does not come out according to your expectations.
Playing golf also allows an individual to build connections, especially on the business side. As Mr. Bailey noted, golf is a social event where relationships are made and businesses established be it on initial or advanced stage.
I do not even think that “you know what” allows you to build a relationship. The “you know what” at times is just being done for no apparent reason than just doing it. My best thinking is that it is the other way around with “you know what.”
Mr. Bailey also mentioned that playing golf keeps an individual healthy and get’s a person out to where the air is fresh.
I guess “you know what” can also keep a person healthy. But fresh air? Not. Also, it is very difficult to top golf where you play for four hours straight. Rains cannot even get an individual out of a golf course. Four hours of you know what? Not happening.
Golf also helps extend a person’s patience and teaches honesty. Have you ever seen a golfer change ball positions during a round of golf? Has a golfer cheated on his score sheet? If ever there was a golfer who cheated, it was just that someone every golfer knows very much. But then again, it was not on the golf course.
I cannot imagine “you know what” extending a person’s patience and making that person more honest. In fact, it will be more likely the opposite will happen.
So my take? I guess golf wins handily over “you know what.” That was the sense that I got from my conversion with Mr. Bailey, or at least the parallelism in it.
Anyway, the ECCP will soon be expanding its golf event with plans to revive the ECCP Golf Challenge in Cebu during the first quarter of 2014.
Mr. Bailey believes that it makes a lot of sense for the ECCP to reboot its golf challenge down south after holding it there for the last time in 2005 with the robust business growth there.
Currently, the ECCP Golf Challenge attracts close to 160 Filipino and European business executives annually. But all of them are from Metro Manila.
The ECCP started its golfing challenge in 2000 and Mr. Bailey took over organizing in 2001. Sta. Elena Golf & Country Club has also become the home of the golf challenge after its initial run was held in Canlubang.
Trivia 1: Mr. Bailey is in the board of the Philippine Rugby Football Union. The union handles the Philippine Volcanoes and is a member of the International Rugby Board and Asian Rugby Football Union.
Trivia 2: According to Mr. Bailey, there have been instances in the past where golfers have fallen in love and started romances with their caddies or umbrella girls.
Trivia 3: Mr. Bailey has a new company, Asian Corporate Network, which acts as a lobby and consultancy firm.
Final burst: Congratulations to the ECCP and the BusinessMirror for the partnership they signed last Friday. The BusinessMirror will be the media partner of the chamber for its activities for the remainder of the year. Cheers to two very successful organizations.
Source: Business Mirror; Special Feature; 26 May 2013
