Politics and Golf

Since I have yet to decide for whom to cast my vote in November, I have devised a foolproof way of choosing the best candidate. Play 18 holes of golf with Senator Barack Obama and then play golf with Senator John McCain.

Think about it. You play golf with someone, in particular, someone you never played with before, and you learn a lot about that person.

And I mean a lot.

Golf is an amazing mirror of life. Yes, other sports provide life lessons as well but golf is my favorite sport and the one I understand the best. It is a mystical experience, a test of character, a source of rare joy and excruciating pain. No psychological test will tell you as much about a person’s character as a round of golf.

Back in the early 1990’s, I was playing golf in the Sea Pines Resort here on Hilton Head Island and was teamed up with two strangers, a husband and wife. By the third hole, we were exchanging the usual banter concerning the weather, our home states, what we did for a living, etc.

From his answers, I sensed that the man was in politics and proceeded to ask him who he worked for. His response was the state of Indiana. And I then asked him if he was in the State Legislature. Matter of factly, he said, “No, I’m the Governor.”

His name was Evan Bayh

We proceeded to play our round and it turns out he was one of the nicest “strangers” I have ever played golf with. No false pretenses….just a nice guy that you would never guess was a Governor. At the end of our round, his wife Susan asked me what my plans were for the following day. When I told her golf, she invited me to play with them again since her husband was being joined by a political friend and we would have a foursome.

I accepted the invitation and we had another delightful day on the course.

It appears that the voters of Indiana had a similar impression.
By the end of his second term in 1996, Governor Bayh, who is now the Junior Senator from Indiana, had an approval rating of nearly 80 percent.

So while it is unlikely that I’ll get to play golf with the presidential candidates and will have to resort to more traditional ways to reach my decision, keep this concept in mind next time you really need to learn more about a person.

Invite him or her to play 18 holes of golf.