"As you walk down the fairway of life you must smell the roses, for you only get to play one round." -Ben Hogan

Last year, the PGA Tour kicked off a campaign entitled, “Drive to a billion.” It was an advertising initiative designed to highlight how the PGA Tour, and its players, sponsors, and volunteers, had worked together to raise more than $1 billion for charity. One billion.

That’s a lot of roses for charities and beneficiaries to smell. And it solidifies that the effort was worth it for those who helped make it possible. We’ll never know how many lives were saved or improved due to the generosity of golf and the businesses that support this great game, but what we do know is that golf and giving go hand in hand, and dollars raised through golf seem to exponentially grow. Success stories abound in communities where the PGA Tour plays, and hundreds of terrific organizations have prospered because generous souls came together and gave through golf.

Giving back through golf is also good—great!--business. Have you ever wondered why so many Fortune 500 companies form marketing partnerships with the PGA Tour? The answer is simple: because the partnerships help build the brand, the client base and every other important business component. And the good news is that at any PGA Tour event there are affordable local sponsorships that allow any company—no matter how big or small-- to build through golf. And all the while, a major part of a business’ marketing expense is going to help great causes.

"Getting involved with the PGA Tour is a total win-win," says Tom Carroll, the Director of Sales and Marketing for Las Vegas' PGA Tour event, the FRYS.com Open. "A company can market itself to a very ‘pre-qualified’ consumer group of spectators through various branding programs and/or entertain customers in private hospitality areas at a world-class sporting event. The PGA Tour really separates itself from other community and national sporting events because most net revenues go to a wide array of charities, and the events are usually run by a group of dedicated, volunteer business leaders."

A selfish fact about giving and golf is that while you give of your time and money, you—and most importantly, your clients--will have a blast, guaranteed. Whether it’s playing in a PGA Tour pro-am or buying a skybox to watch the action, you will be experiencing—and appreciating--golf, and forming new bonds or solidifying old ones. And at the end of the day, someone’s life will be made that much better because you were out there.

A neat thing about golf is that the game will give you back tenfold what you put into it. When you give of yourself and become involved with a golf association or a charity golf event or a PGA Tour event, you are helping others, but you will also be personally rewarded in many ways. But be sure that you are pure of purpose when you become involved. The charities and good causes come first. Work hard for the cause, then sit back and wait for the other benefits to blossom.

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Golf world challenge

If you are having a difficult time saving par from around the green, take the advice of three-time U.S. Women’s Open Champion Susie Berning. Use a putter whenever you can around the green. Most of the time, the result of a bad putt is as good as a good chip. And a bad chip will most likely lead to devastating results.