The Grandstand Effect
When going all out just isn’t the right move.
A lot of our belief in how we should be playing golf comes from watching the pros play perfectly manicured courses lined with spectators and marshals to find their ball when it buries itself in the rough. As amateurs, we don’t have the same luxuries and to further compound things, our view of how we are playing has been jaded by watching Ticktok videos and Instagram highlights of not just the best players in the world, but the best players in the world playing at their very best. Long story short, we aren’t playing the same game.
Another feature that pros get to benefit from are grandstands that create a safety net from errant shots coming to rest well beyond the green and ending up in a situation that would cost even the best amateurs a few strokes. While every professional player is trying to hit it as close to the pin as they can on their approach, they will take a grandstand into effect and use it as a bailout. As good as they are they know they still miss, so the thought process goes,”if I miss, missing long is best because the grandstand will keep me close, if I miss short I end up in greenside trouble that gives me a harder up and down.” So you see pros swinging as hard as they can and hitting the ball as far as possible on their approach shots because they can afford to overshoot a green by 20, 30, or 40 yards. As a result, we will find ourselves taking the same approach thinking we need to hit every par 5 or long par 4 in two shots even though we would score better leaving our approach short for an easy up and down.
I see the same thing happening with relationship building. People are so eager to get relationships to the point of closing a deal or to where a relationship that has taken years to build is, that unnecessary risks are taken and often end up costing any hope of building any relationship at all. When it comes to building a relationship, Just like playing your local municipal course, there isn’t a grandstand there to save you from disaster. I know I have walked away from people who are being too aggressive and are unwilling to take the time needed to understand my goals to the point where they can articulate exactly how they can help me or my business get there.
