Published June 2002

Business, pleasure do mix
on course, pro says

By Kimberly Hilden
Herald Business Journal Assistant Editor

As a golf instructor for Edmonds Community College’s Center for Lifelong Learning, George Winn sees a diverse group of people taking up the game: men and women, teenagers and young adults, business professionals and retirees.

Some learn to play for recreation or companionship. Others enjoy the scenery and use it as a tool for travel, visiting golf resorts around the country and the world.

Then there are those looking to gain a professional edge, an edge Winn says can be had on the links. “Over the years that I’ve been in the business, I’ve seen more business conducted on the golf course than probably any boardroom,” said Winn, a golf professional for the past 40 years, 36 of those as a member of the Professional Golfers’ Association.

Winn’s not the only one. The business/golf connection has been captured in such books as “On Course for Business” or touted through workshops and seminars that teach the art of “business golf” — networking and relationship building on the links.

The golf course is conducive to such activity, Winn said, because the relaxed environment gives the people involved “a common denominator” and enables them to learn about one another.

“I’ve often said that if you want to find out how someone really is, how they’re like, go play 18 holes with them,” said Winn, who has specialized in golf instruction for the past 20 years. “See how they handle adversity, because golf is an adverse affair sometimes. ...You’ll see how much joy they conceive doing something well. ... It’s pretty much a ‘capsulized life’ in four hours.”

And more and more people are taking part in that “capsulized life,” according to figures from the National Golf Foundation:

• There are about 26.7 million golfers age 12 and older in the United States. Of those, 8 percent are between the ages of 12 and 17; 44 percent are between the ages of 18 and 39; 21 percent are in their 40s; and 27 percent are 50 or older.
• The number of golfers in the United States has grown 34 percent since 1986.
• Female golfers make up about 19 percent of the U.S. golfing population, an increase of 11 percent since 1986; and the number of junior golfers has increased 43 percent to 2.1 million.

Winn attributes much of the growth, at least in the past five or six years, to the increasing popularity of Tiger Woods, who, at 26, already has won more than 25 tournaments, including the 1997, 2001 and 2002 Masters tournaments.

“The influence he’s had is multifaceted,” said Winn, who also gives private lessons at Kaddyshack Golf Center in Lynnwood. “One of the reasons is that for years, golf was (considered) a game for wealthy people or poor athletes who just liked to go out and hit something around. But because of his influence, there’s a lot of money in it, so a lot of the younger athletes are taking golf up, looking for perhaps a career in it.”

And more senior citizens are picking up their golf clubs, too, he said.

“What I find intriguing right now is that (many) of the people that I’m working with up there at the college are retired people,” Winn said. “And either they’re taking up the game for the first time in their lives or they have a renewed interest in it, or they just want to improve — and you’re never too old to improve.”

“Golf is the only game of a lifetime,” he said. “You can play it when you’re 8 years old; you can play it when you’re 88 years old.”

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