The things we learn from golf! I know, I’ve written about that before, but yesterday’s conclusion to The Masters provided such a great example as to why the lesson of the golf course apply to the world of business.
I’m talking, of course, about Phil Mickelson‘s decision-making on number 4. For those of you who didn’t see or haven’t heard about it, Phil was at the top of the leader-board when he hit an errant shot on a par 3. His error was compounded by the fact that it hit a grandstand and bounced further away from the hole. In fact, it wound up in some thick brush. This piece provides a good overview. For you non-golfers, when your ball winds up in a place like this, you can do one of four things: Play the ball as it is or take a penalty stroke and use one of three options under the “unplayable lie” rule. In Phil’s case, two of the three options weren’t available to him – it’s too long an explanation for this space – but the third one – replay the last shot from the previous spot certainly was. That would have been back on the tee, hitting your third shot (on a par 3) into the green.
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Phil elected to play the ball as it was and ended up making 6, and given where his ball was that was about as good a score as he could have expected. His decision-making process is a great business example. Phil elected not to cut his losses (take the penalty and start over) and I think it cost him the golf tournament. This is the same guy who lost the U.S. Open a few years ago making exactly the same decision – try to hit an impossible shot instead of cutting your losses. Obviously he won The Masters a couple of year back trying and making a difficult shot onto a par 5 from the trees (no, golf is not played in the woods – some of us just go there a lot). In some ways, that just reinforced what is generally not the best course of action.
None of us like to admit that we need to take the hit and start over. Most of us talk about “throwing good money after bad” as a negative. The hard part is stepping back and assessing the situation without emotional involvement about all you’ve invested so far. You need to build in decision points and discuss where you are with others and adjust the plan. The caddy is out on the course not just to lug the golf bag and whether it’s in-house staff of consultants like me, someone needs to help make the decision to take the unplayable and live to fight another day.
What do you think? How do you know when it’s time to go back to the tee or when trying to stick it out is the best course of action?
Consult Keith 