Sneaking away from the office

[jlh1508]

As a Pastor, I have a lot of freedom to sneak out and play golf. Especially since there are probably 10-12 members of the church who are regular golfers and are inviting me out on to the course with them on a consistent basis

[etlreams]

I am in property management. So while I am in the office doing the 8-5 thing Mon-Fri, I also work a lot of nights going to meetings, etc. etc. So I feel it is fair that I tend to "sneak out" about once every 1-2 weeks to play a quick round at a local exec 9 course. Only takes about an hour to an hour and a half. It's almost like a long lunch.

I do play quite a bit for "work" -- golfing with clients, vendors, etc.

Hey, if you put in your time, are productive when you are at work, and most importantly have the freedom to "sneak out" to play a round without it affecting you or your colleagues, I say have at it!

[Clambake]

One time a few friends and I decided to play midweek, and three of us took a half day vacation but the fourth guy (let's call him "Bartholomew" here) decided to just play hooky from the office. While we were waiting on deck to tee off, he had a call from the managing director and my friend was talking to him pretending he was in his office. Suddenly, the loudspeaker twenty feet away barked "Bartholomew foursome, you're on the tee in 6 mintues. Bartholomew foursome, 6 minutes to your tee time!". The rest of us were laughing our butts off as he tried to weasle out of trouble.

[Clambake]

  The Road Dog said:

If I keep playing at my current rate I may have to change some things in my life to be able to afford to join the CC where I live. I live here

I was curious so I checked out your link, and wow I'm amazed what so many of you in other parts of the country get to pay to join a CC. Here in SoCal about the minimum one sees is $40k+ initiation plus $500-600 monthly dues. And that's minimum for a so-so club. Anything nice is well over $100k initiation and $1200-1500 a month. If I could join a club like the one you mention for that kind of money, I'd do it but I'd be skipping out of work at least 3 times a week to use it!

[jamo]

  Clambake said:

I was curious so I checked out your link, and wow I'm amazed what so many of you in other parts of the country get to pay to join a CC. Here in SoCal about the minimum one sees is $40k+ initiation plus $500-600 monthly dues. And that's minimum for a so-so club. Anything nice is well over $100k initiation and $1200-1500 a month. If I could join a club like the one you mention for that kind of money, I'd do it but I'd be skipping out of work at least 3 times a week to use it!

MA (where I'm from) is like that too. Huge initiations fees plus 10K a year in dues. But in DE (where I am right now) most country clubs are semi-private, so it's like 3-4K for the entire year and no initiation fees.

[Fat Slice]

I play once or twice a week since I own the company and make my own schedule. I am very generous with the people who work with me when it comes to their wanting time off. Fair's fair!

When I worked for the government I always found a way to sneak in golf. The best was to work over a weekend on travel, which was easy since I worked in IT and we usually worked on weekends doing upgrades when the offices were closed. I'd bust my ass Friday night and Saturday to get it all done, then recreate (sometimes golfing) on Sunday, then train everyone starting Monday. I also had a boss who was golf crazy so sometimes scouting a potential conference site meant bring clubs along.

[srjorion]

  newtogolf said:

Isn't that what vacation and personal days are for?

No, that time is half golf and half family time. I need extra golf!

Seriously, I definitely take a day of vacation every so often and play golf and do other things. Sometimes it's nice to be able to get some work in for a day and break off early to play golf.

  whatwhatwhat said:

Golf is for people allergic to adrenaline....WTF I bet graeme mcdowell would have something to say about that, I mean is there any other sport in the world were people can feel so nervous and stressed?

I completely agree. I'm assuming my boss tried golf, sucked at it, and never got to the point where he was having a great round and wound up ripping a drive right down the middle of the fairway on the 18th hole.

[jamo]

  srjorion said:

...ripping a drive right down the middle of the fairway on the 18th hole.

That's what happens to me every time I am having a bad round. The game keeps you coming back.

[Skragbait]

  cliff2222tx said:

wait till you're married with couple of kids...

Actually, I have 3 daughters from my previous marriage. I see them on weekends so I don't golf as much as I'd like on weekends. But I do sneak out early around 7 am most Saturdays and try to get back home before my girls wake up. They like to sleep in until noon sometimes on weekends. :) So I usually get to play 18.

[The Road Dog]

  Clambake said:

I was curious so I checked out your link, and wow I'm amazed what so many of you in other parts of the country get to pay to join a CC. Here in SoCal about the minimum one sees is $40k+ initiation plus $500-600 monthly dues. And that's minimum for a so-so club. Anything nice is well over $100k initiation and $1200-1500 a month. If I could join a club like the one you mention for that kind of money, I'd do it but I'd be skipping out of work at least 3 times a week to use it!

Clambake you only saw the CC, we have so much more to do. If you look at the map of St Pete where we are you can see we are surrounded by saltwater on three sides. So fishing is an every Saturday thing, leaving only Sunday for Golf unless I take off from work. Then there is Orlando 80 miles away, and whole weeks for Bike or Nascar events in Daytona. And the beaches here are tops in the state. But you're right I guess it is more reasonably priced than many places, and it's year round if you can get used to 93* heat and 100% humidity from May thru September.

[chilly]

My schedule is pretty flexible, but I try not to push it too much. I'll leave an hour early every couple weeks in the summer to get a round in the evening. I also took vacation 3 or 4 times this summer to play on a Friday.

I do have releases at night once a month, these run ~6hrs so I will leave the following day and play a round if nothing else is going on, problem is many of the folks on my team will work the entire day so it can be tough to sneak out.