Sunday, July 01, 2007

Winning Isn't Everything, Is It?

Something occurred during a match that I played in this weekend that makes me wonder for some people what is it worth to be called a "winner"? For some, it's clear that they (and their partners) will cheat and lie to have that hollow title.

I always tell my audience if you play with a cheater and you're doing business with that person, watch out! That person will likely cheat and lie in business as well.

Whether it's declaring a higher handicap to get extra strokes or denying something that they did worthy of a penalty, is it really worth it when they lay their heads on their pillows?

They know they cheated. Others know they cheated. Yet it's apparently that important to be able to declare themselves victors. Worse yet is when this involves those who tout political correctness, self-awareness, spirituality, and kindness to all.

Sure I could have made a claim and had the golf committee solve the issue. I chose not to do so. We would have gone through a "he did this, she did that," and so on.

Yes, I am an attorney and I am paid to fight. But I also believe if you did something wrong, you own it, and take the consequences. Perhaps, naively, I believe I shouldn't have to fight to get what is right in the first place.

Since this occurred, I've been reflecting on how this will affect my future matches if something like this occurs again. Will I fight to "win"?

I probably won't simply because it's not that important to me to be declared a winner of a golf match. I know who prevailed, and the others can put on their charade about the outcome of our match...and as to who they are as people.

I suspect they don't even know that they are doing the latter, which makes me feel even more pity for them. Besides, God, karma, or whomever or whatever is the final arbiter will likely decide who is a victor in the most important game we play, and it's not the game of golf.

2 comments:

Mulligan+ said...

Hi Blogger,

I am the owner of Mulligan Plus , a new golf site. We are producing a few PDF files that people have added information for and we thought with Carnoustie starting on Thursday, it might be of interest to you and your readers.

http://www.mulliganplus.com/_assets/_user/File/course_guides/Carnoustie%20Golf%20Links_15.pdf

Kind regards
Reagan

Anonymous said...

If it's serious enough you have to call them right on the spot. If they are straight with you maybe you can resolve it. (though with a cheater you may get some pretty non-straight stuff) Ideally someone else would have seen it happen. If nothing else though it lets them know that you are on them like a fly to you-know-what....so "Don't screw around." And it will undoubtedly be a hit to their psyche too. (no matter what way the confrontation goes) Good luck.