Page 417 - Deception at work all chapters EBook

418 Deception at Work

Until you have won, whatever you do, don’t sympathise but increase anxiety and pile on
the pressure: you have to get him to the pivotal point.

‘Yes, you are playing badly. Have you been hitting the bottle again, or what?’

Keep this up, show no sympathy but remain polite, and he will soon become a nurturing
child and ask

‘Can you see what I am doing wrong?’

Under no circumstances, until you have won, should you give your opponent any advice,
because, if you do, he is likely to recuperate and win. You should simply say something like:

‘I can’t see what’s up, Stan, but I think it must be your new clubs or too much gin at
lunchtime.’

Work carefully on the turning until you have won. Then you must become really nice.

No good deed goes unpunished

POST TURN EVENTS

Once you have won the match, hopefully with eight holes left to play, you should reinforce
the role of a nurturing parent, so that future relationships with the opponent will not be
damaged. After all, you will probably want to play this duffer again, so you must leave him
feeling good about himself:

‘You had some really bad luck, Stan, especially with that duck and the couple in the bush.
You’ve got a great swing: just not your day, eh? It happens to all of us. Don’t worry about it.
Fancy another game next Thursday? Maybe if we had five grand on it, you would play much
better? ’

You can then suggest a small bet on the bye7 and let him win. This always makes bad golfers
feel good because they foolishly rationalize that there is still hope.

Let the opponent know not all has been lost and that there is a future

THE DEEP TRUTH

After the match, there is not a lot of deep golfing truth you need to expose, except to get paid
your winnings and possibly buy his new golf clubs for a song. However, you should never miss

7 These are the holes remaining after the match has been lost