Getting in the game: Putting golf at the forefront of your networking toolbox

Networking is imperative for career success in business, particularly in industries like sales and marketing. Success in the sales industry is directly tied to networking and building relationships. In this article, we shed light on the relationship between women, business, and golf as a potential networking tool. Many believe golf is the piece de resistance of business networking, yet there is no research to support this assumption. To boot, women report golf as one of the primary informal networks they feel excluded from, which creates a disadvantage for women working in sales in marketing. We conducted a content analysis of over 500 pages of articles about women and golf from which three primary categories emerged: the benefits of golf for women in business, the effects of not golfing, and the reasons why women don't golf. We include recommendations for managers who may want to encourage their teams to get in the game. (C) 2020 Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.