Any Time, Anywhere...Invite Them

      How many people have you shared with how much fun you have playing golf?  What about the strong relationships and friendships you have established over the years at the golf course?  Have you brought your passion for the game out of the shadows and expressed your love for the game to others, including to strangers you meet day to day?  I understand that it takes some effort and at times getting over talking to others and you have to watch for the right occasion, but you should try it. Its a great way to grow our game.
      I am a pretty outgoing kind of guy.  In fact there are times that my wife thinks I am a bit crazy, and most of the time I don't deny it.  I like people and I like to talk to people. Many times I look for an opportunity and I talk to strangers, if not to just say hi and smile.  Sometimes a conversation begins and we talk about many things and many times the conversation gets around to golf.  A lot of times when that conversation gets to golf, the person I am talking to is a golfer but most of the time they are not and I talk to them about how much fun the game is. The conversation ends with me saying "See you out there" to the person who plays and mere importantly an invitation to the non-player to check out the game. Here's what I mean.
      Saturday morning I was having breakfast with my wife's family and we got up to pay the bill.  Waiting to be seated was a family That had just finished a little league game that their son had played in. The boy seemed to be about ten years old.  I asked the boy if he had just finished or was going to play in a game as he had his baseball uni on. They had just played and the father told me the boy had just played and struck out ten batters. Yes, I was interested as I have coached little league in the past so we chatted briefly about the game.
        I asked the boy if he had ever thought about learning how to play golf.  He said no.  I talked to him about how much fun he was having in baseball and that is wonderful.  I also said that he should think about playing golf because he could play golf for a lifetime. That's when the dad stepped into the conversation--he was listening all along of course--and we started a conversation about taking up golf for the boy.  I briefly shared with him how easy it was to start up the game and suggested some of the ways that the boy could get into junior golf.  The dad was very interested and said that he himself was extremely interested in taking up the game. I gave him my business card--I told him I wasn't a pro but knew a lot about the game and what to do to get started--and encouraged him to call me to answer any questions he may have and I could direct him to where he could go to get started. I look forward to chatting with him again and getting both he and
his son into the game of golf.
       I used to be a salesman in one of my past careers. One thing my sales manager used to say quite a bit was "Hide it, keep it.  Show it, sell it."  Let's not hide golf but share it as much as we can to whoever will listen. Our's is a grand old game.  Bringing the game to others by talking to them about what the game means to us and how much we enjoy all aspects of the game is a very important part of the game. Show it and sell it, but most importantly invite them to become a part of it.

Stevinson Ranch had this hanging up outside the entrance to their pro shop.  Let's invite more people to share in the fun.