Mixing business with golf

Hard-driving business conversations on the golf course are not typical, local golfers say. You can, however, expect to gain bits and pieces of information throughout the round. Some on the tee, some more while walking off the green and even more while waiting on the group ahead to hit.

Golfer Linda Metheny, Medicaid billing supervisor at Southeast Missouri Agency on Aging in Cape Girardeau, said she is amazed at the amount of business talk that goes on at a golf course. Of course, it's never when someone is swinging.

"I have talked with others about their work while on the course," she said. "Much of what I have heard has been very interesting and informative. There are many short times of opportunity to visit. There is often time spent waiting on players ahead of you, as well as time after the game in the clubhouse. I made many good friends on the golf course as well."

Balls are lost, but relationships are formed.

Terry Swanger, a carpenter from Ste. Genevieve who is building houses in Forest Hills subdivision in Cape Girardeau, said he golfs and often with other carpenters.

"We have our little group," he said. "We do sometimes talk about the houses we're working on. We usually don't work together, so when we go golfing we learn what others are doing. We talk about what contractor is paying how much, that's for sure."

There is nothing like a round of golf to generate goodwill between business contacts and even employees of the same companies, say area golf course officials.

At Bootheel Golf Course in Sikeston, golf professional and general manager Jeff Ketterman said company outings are quite common.

"Food Giant is our biggest yearly business outing," he said. "Employees get together and raise money for charity. This year they raised about $18,000 for the YMCA. We also have tournaments for Birch Food, First Security State Bank and quite a few high school booster clubs."

Ketterman said business chatter is common on the course.

"Oh sure, it's done all the time," he said. "We have corporate memberships here that are designed specifically for businesses to get together and entertain business associates. Businesses pay a yearly due, and when they bring their business contacts to play, they pay a corporate fee and hit the fairways."

Ketterman said corporate memberships are also designed for companies to bring their board of directors to the course for a day of leisure of business small talk.

"And people who don't know each other get in foursomes, get to talking about things, and they make contacts and trade business information," he said. "It happens all the time. We have golf packages that bring people here from Southern Illinois and St. Louis. People meet and exchange business cards."

Al Oliver, president of Perryville Country Club, echoes Ketterman. Retired from Proctor & Gamble, Oliver said P&G is one of many area businesses that have golf outings at the country club. Among others, TG Missouri in Perryville, with more than 900 employees, holds tournaments there.

"We have the big company tournaments. And then there's always people from different businesses that golf together," Oliver said. "They trade tidbits. A lot of that takes place."

Oliver said he golfs at the course with other former Proctor & Gamble employees, "and we still talk about the company. We had a recent outing and we talked about what the company was doing."

He said every August a business associate in Perryville hosts a special golf outing for business people. Called the IDA (Industrial Development Association) Tournament, it's for people to get together, share ideas and cement business relationships.