Stay out of the rough while doing business on the links.

• Author: Weeks, Stephen
• Position: Golf and Home Guide - Brief Article

As Olympic snow melts into distant memory, there's one thing you can count on: Utah's captains (and even the privates) of industry are eagerly polishing their clubs for that oh-so-sweet first round of the season. For serious golfers, getting back onto the golf course after a season away is better than, well, just about anything.

Avid golfers, regardless, of their ability, are happiest on the course. Four and a half hours of sunshine while playing corporate America's most popular game can be immensely therapeutic done right. That at is to say, without throwing clubs and releasing a string of expletives at every bad shot.

Each year, more businesspeople begin to explore the game. That means more corporate golf outings and more business discussed on the golf course. But there's a right way and a wrong way to conduct yourself, which varies depending on who you ask.

Alan S. Layton, president of the Layton Companies, a Salt Lake City commercial building business, recognizes the importance of relationship-building and entertaining clients. He says that in addition to golfing, his company sometimes takes business associates skiing and to Utah Jazz games. Layton has gone to his share of what he calls "vanity corporate golf tournaments" hosted by some of Utah's premier companies. These events provide the perfect setting for forming business relationships and strengthening existing bonds.

"I've met people on the course that I never knew beforehand," Layton says. "It's a nice way to get acquainted and learn about a person. I believe the more people get to know us, the more they'd like to do business with us."

Layton says he prefers to host clients rather than the other way around. "You can have too many people gone too much if you're not careful," he says. "And we want to be careful we don't become overly (beholden) to certain vendors. If the same electrical subcontractor does all the electrical work for us, something's wrong. There's nothing wrong with golf, but you can go too far."

Some avid golfers in the business community refuse to breathe a word of shop talk on the golf course. Veda Barrie, who owns an eponymous real estate agency, advises that no business be discussed while golfing. Use the time, instead, to develop a friendship first.

"If you're going to talk about business, do it after the round," says Barrie, the first woman elected to the board of directors at Willow Creek Country Club. "Most people who play intermediate to serious golf hate...