“Golf is underrated for the demands it makes on the player's balance and athleticism. You might be stationed in one place when you make a full golf swing, but the size of the motion combined with the speed you move your body requires balance from start to finish,” Butch Harmon

Being a golf magazine publisher in a past life, I’ve heard all of the jokes and comments.

“Wow, pretty cool job, you must play golf every day.”

“Good to see you today, where’s your caddie?”

“Are you here for a meeting or just playing through?”

“We’ll try to keep this very important corporate meeting short because we know you have a tee time.”

If I had a titleist golf ball for every time someone snorted a comment like the above, well, I’d have more balls than the lake that surrounds the island green at TPC Sawgrass.

The fact is, no matter what the profession, all golfers wish they had more time to play, and all non-golfers grumble about their co-worker or boss hitting the links too often. It doesn’t matter if the time spent teeing it up was in the name of forming an everlasting bond with the company’s number one client. But contrary to some people’s thinking, it is possible to enjoy golf, do good business and be home enough to kiss the spouse and kids.

But it takes discipline, and balance is the key word.

And not only is balance the key to keeping everything together in your life, balance is also a key to a successful golf swing. In fact, if you have a herky, jerky, crazy golf swing, our guess here at Business Under Par is that you may have a herky, jerky, crazy lifestyle. There are exceptions to every rule, but a person’s golf swing certainly can mirror that person’s life. If you’re quick in the swing, you’re probably fast moving and aggressive in life. If you change your swing on a constant basis, you’re probably searching for something in life or business.

If you’re smooth and have it together with you’re swing (even if you don’t always get the results you may want every time), you’re probably fairly smooth and have it together in life (even if you don’t always get the results you may want every time). Think about your swing, and see if you see any correlation. Email us your findings.

Having and maintaining proper balance when utilizing golf as a business tool is very important. Golf is a time consuming endeavor so be careful how you allot your time when enjoying it for business or pleasure. You won’t be successful if you’re out playing golf every day, but there are ways to enjoy golf while keeping it all together.

You don’t need to play 18 holes all of the time. What about playing nine in the early morning before work? A lot of courses have “business person’s specials” available that allow for this type of play, and if you’re a member of a country club it’s that much easier to play a quick nine.

How about over your lunch break just hitting a bucket of balls with a co-worker or a client, and grabbing a hot dog in the clubhouse? Or getting a quick-fix lesson instead of reading the newspaper at the coffee house? Or how about volunteering an hour of your time to a junior golf association and helping kids to learn and enjoy the game. You will learn a lot about yourself and your swing if you help a child. And the karma will come back tenfold.

Another key to proper golf balance is to invite clients, partners or friends along when you are doing something golf related. This allows for quality time to be spent in a setting that everyone enjoys, and you can cement several relationships at one time.

And when you do play 18 holes, be sure to take your time and enjoy it. Playing a round of golf provides a perfect way to step back from the madness and clear your head from the grind.

Ask any golf pro to name a few keys to a good golf swing, and the word balance will come up very soon in the conversation. For sure there are other factors, but like a building, you need a solid foundation from which to build, and being balanced (weight, posture, stance, etc.) is the way you have to start to be successful. Your golf instructor will tell you that if you don’t start balanced, you won’t maintain balance and you will certainly not finish balanced.

Now was your instructor talking about your swing or your life?

Golf world challenge: You can’t seem to find balance in your golf swing. United States Ryder Cup captain Tom Lehman recently wrote the following practice tip on the pga tour website that will help keep your swing on balance.

Golf world solution: “So if I want to give anybody a tip, a very simple tip is to swing on balance. And what do I mean? It's like throwing a ball. You step. You throw to the target. Your weight goes to the left. How do I work on that in the golf swing? One simple way: With my feet together I make nice, smooth swings, making sure I face the target through impact.”