Page 409 - Deception at work all chapters EBook

410 Deception at Work

PLANNING ANXIETY INDUCING SCHEMES

The principle

You should plan to get your opponent to defeat himself, through brain thrashing, anxiety
and all that other good stuff. Like every other situation where deception is at work, you have
to bring him to the pivotal point where he internalizes and loses all confidence in his ability
to succeed. This is easy, but at the end of it all, you have to allow him to save face and this can
be more difficult.

Let the opponent defeat himself through his own anxiety
Get him to the pivotal point

Silly gamesmanship

You should never stoop to the silly gamesmanship used by unintelligent wretches, such as
coughing at the top of an opponent’s back swing, secretly kicking his ball into the rough,
childish verbals or claiming to have a handicap of 28 when you are really plus four. Any idiot
can do that and the cunning plan is much more subtle and, of course, fair.

Play it fair

Fear bad: anxiety good

We trust you have recognized the difference between fear and anxiety. The former is in rela-
tion to a specific external threat, such as, ‘watch the motorway on the right. A member was
killed on that last week looking for his ball’, or ‘if you sink that putt, I will cancel our purchase
order’, and increasing fear is a cheap trick that you should never use. Anxiety, on the other
hand, is internally generated in the subject’s brain and results from an accumulation of small,
often subtle, worries. Causing an opponent to raise his level of anxiety to the point where he
defeats himself is a legitimate tactic.

Anxiety is legitimate: fear is not

Six key points

Good planning is essential and you should use six key points to increase your opponent’s
anxiety during the match. For example, if he is a right hemisphere, gregarious, arty type who
likes to chat a lot, find out whether he walks around the course or takes a buggy. Whichever
he prefers, plan to do the opposite, so that the only time you will have to speak to him is on
tees and greens, making him lonely and anxious. The perfect game is with you on a buggy
and the opponent walking. You can then motor-on quickly between shots and rush him. This
will make him both anxious and knackered. On the other hand if you know he normally uses
a buggy, you should plan to walk as slowly as you can and hold him up.

The objective of your planning is to upset your opponent’s tempo, rhythm and confidence
and if, on the day, you can be so unhurried that you have to let through a four-ball of Japanese
ladies or, better still, a group of German travel agents playing in a seven ball, so much the
better. Remember your objective is to win: not to enjoy the game.

Pacing is very important