The Ryder Cup: A Battle of Prestige and Diplomacy
Europe is my favorite, no matter where they play. We owe it to Seve.” This weekend marks the ongoing Ryder Cup, essentially the World Cup of golf featuring just two teams: Europe and the USA. The fan gearing up to support the European team isn’t your typical rowdy sport enthusiast; he’s Javier Tabernero, president and CEO of Canon Spain, Italy, and Portugal.
This time, the Americans have the home advantage as the competition is being held at the prestigious Bethpage Black Course in New York, the very state where Donald Trump was born. The traditional British magazine The Spectator published an article over the summer titled “How Trump Has Turned Golf into a Diplomatic Tool.” The subtitle claimed that “world leaders in search of promotion are practicing their drives.”
During South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s visit to the White House in May, he brought along golfers Ernie Els and Retief Goosen to impress Trump, who had already played 304 rounds in his first six months in office compared to Barack Obama’s 306 rounds over his entire presidency. Trump remains far behind Eisenhower and Wilson.
Golf: The Sport of the Elite and Effective Networking
This trend isn’t new. Golf has long been regarded as the king of sports among high-level executives across various industries. And what could be a bigger business than the U.S. government, especially with someone like Trump at the helm? Adolfo Roldán, director of Private Banking at Creand Wealth Management, argues that “golf has become a territory where sports, business, and social relations intertwine with surprising naturalness.”
He notes that the Royal Spanish Golf Federation highlights that corporate tournaments are the primary drivers of new memberships in private clubs. Academically, studies have shown how golf enhances soft skills like patience, strategic planning, and emotional self-control. Roldán further summarizes it with industry jargon: “In short, golf enables you to combine networking, moderate exercise, and the possibility of discussing EBITDA while attempting to save a tricky par.” He points out three crucial lessons for executives: “Error management: Each bad shot requires quick reaction and calmness, just like when a strategic plan goes sideways; long-term vision: An 18-hole course isn’t conquered in one stroke, much like a business doesn’t flourish from a single successful quarter but through consistency; serene leadership: Golf involves making decisions calmly, even under pressure.”
Personal Growth and the Unique Aspects of Golf
Javier Jover, General Director of Dojo in Spain, emphasizes qualities like “self-control, continuous improvement, and long-term thinking.” He highlights the ability to manage multiple factors simultaneously during a game. “You could be playing your best game, but the wind, rain, or course conditions can affect the outcome.” He particularly values golf’s unique capacity to create spaces for dialogue and understanding. In its slow-paced environment, sharing several hours in a relaxed atmosphere enables conversations that flow more naturally than in more formal settings.
According to Jover, the passion for golf among entrepreneurs and executives arises because “it’s a highly competitive sport with a clear measurement system: the number of strokes in 18 holes. It allows you to compete against others and yourself, aiming to outperform your previous performance. This mirrors the dynamics of the business world. Moreover, golf is inclusive, suitable for all ages, and the ‘handicap’ system allows any player to compete fairly.”
Tabernero adds, “I believe many executives of my generation play golf because we can no longer engage in contact sports like basketball or soccer, or high-impact sports like tennis. Sports overall provide substantial life benefits such as health improvements, joy, social interactions, stress relief, friendship development, and fostering humility.” However, he expresses skepticism about golf’s effectiveness for networking: “There are other activities that are far more effective than spending four hours with just three people focused solely on golf.”
Jover disagrees, saying, “Spending an entire day on the course, sharing challenges and conversations, helps you get a better idea of the person across from you. It’s not only useful for discussing business but also essential for building trust, proximity, and authenticity, all of which are beneficial when laying the groundwork for a working relationship. I remember a round where I started casually discussing a difficult shot with an executive from a tech firm, and we ended up talking about our professional challenges within our respective sectors.”
Furthermore, playing golf can serve as a gauge for evaluating collaborators. “How will someone who gets frustrated over a missed putt react to a lost client? And isn’t the one who smiles and presses on the kind of ally you’d want during a tough negotiation? I’ve seen individuals build trust after 18 holes far more effectively than in countless meetings held in cold rooms with projectors,” says Roldán.