Deals On The Green Book Review

Deals on the Green: Lessons on Business and Golf from America’s Top Executives

by David Ryncki

Grade: B
Teacher’s Comments: Eighteen nice little essays on the intersection of golf and business

Deals on The Green originally was published in 2007, and now is out in a paperback edition with a new preface and chapters. This is a review of the 2011 paperback.

The most distinguishing feature of Deals on the Green is what it is not: it’s not a book about how to do business on the green. It doesn’t tell you how to seal a deal, or on what hole to bring up a touchy subject. You’re not going to land a big contract as a result of reading it.

Instead, Deals on the Green offers narratives about the intersection of golf and business. In 18 chapters (really 17—the last one actually is practical advice), Ryncki points out that many of the skills needed to succeed in business are the same as those required for success in golf. Each chapter begins with a bit of general wisdom: “Be Yourself,” or “Success is About the Intangibles” and then proceeds with an illustration of how it applies to both golf and business. Most feature a story about a CEO who has used golf to achieve business success.

Much of the emphasis in the book is on what serious golfers already know: that you can tell an awful lot about a person’s character from the way they behave on the course. Someone who cheats at golf will cheat at life. A person who plays sideways out of a hazard is off the course a different sort of chap than the one who tries to squeeze a shot through the narrow gap between two tree trunks. And courtesy on the golf course often translates into a gentleman off it.

Deals On The Green is a breezy little book that can easily be devoured in a single sitting. I found it quite enjoyable and at times even inspiring. I don’t know that you could call this a “must read” for all golfers, but if you’re interested in both golf and business it should be on your list.