Golf and Teambuilding: An Unlikely Twosome

Creative Golf and its founder, Doug Hodges, have teamed up with the Heritage Golf Club to offer a program that encourages corporations to take a fresh look at how their teams operate. Using golf as an unlikely vehicle, Creative Golf takes a unique and powerful approach to corporate teambuilding, allowing participants to perform at their best, no matter what the playing field. This is the foundation of the Creative Golf philosophy. According to Doug, “Our best performances occur when we remain emotionally detached from outcomes and trust that our plan will unfold in a way that gives us the best possible result.”

The Creative Golf Teambuilding Day is a highly interactive, experiential training day for individuals and corporate teams. Using golf as a learning medium, participants experience teambuilding activities that enhance productivity and interactive support. Previous golf experience is not necessary; in fact, the novice golfer makes a significant contribution to the team’s learning and growth. 

Creative Golf promotes the belief that team success can be enhanced by unlocking the power of creativity through a common experience of vulnerability. This experience creates trust, which, in turn, fosters creativity, collaboration, and communication. This allows the team to focus on results. The Creative Golf Teambuilding Day provides common ground, knowledge, and context that builds a strong team foundation and facilitates productive and collaborative interaction.

Today, even though most corporate mission statements emphasize it and CEOs search for it, most companies seem to be missing the spark of creativity that is the foundation for growth and productivity. The Creative Golf Teambuilding Day offers business leaders an opportunity to bring their teams to an environment where creativity and teamwork will flourish. This workshop gives team members a new perspective from which to view themselves and their team.

John Claflin, CEO and general manager of Triangle Transit Authority, had this to say after his team experienced a Creative Golf Teambuilding Day: “The group felt it was one of the best teambuilding sessions ever experienced. Focusing on collaboration and cooperation and placing yourself in vulnerable circumstances helps to build trust. Trust is letting employees know that regardless of outcome, the manager believes in their skills and efforts towards the solution. Being encouraged to attempt a new experience forced us out of our comfort zone and generated the feeling of success in something we never would have attempted. We look forward to incorporating our experience with Creative Golf into our future supervisory training programs.”

Through experiential learning, participants enjoy the freedom of playing the game differently. Creative Golf offers an unusual “right-brained” approach to golf by tapping into intuition and teamwork. Its methods create an experience that develops self-trust and appreciation of partners and teams. Players explore creative thinking, find detachment from the outcome of a shot, and learn from the experiences of the entire team.
Doug Hodges, PGA Apprentice, uses his expertise as a mental game coach to foster a powerful learning environment that provides an opportunity for participants to experience a new paradigm. He is an Advanced Instructor of the GolfPsych teaching method, which has been taught to over 300 tour professionals, including Mark Calcavecchia; Lee Jansen; Dave Stockton, Sr.; Gary McCord; Mischelle McGann; and Brandie Burton. 

In addition to its commitment to the corporate world, Creative Golf also gives back to the community, specifically to children in need of mentors. For almost 10 years, Doug has been associated with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America as a donor, Big Brother, and fund raiser. He was a founding member of a 10-day, 1,000-mile bike ride from Chicago to New York, which in 1999 and 2000 raised over $250,000 to benefit Big Brothers Big Sisters. 

In 1997, he was matched with a 10-year-old from the lower east side of Manhattan, and is now matched with a 10-year-old from Raleigh. Doug counts himself very fortunate to have two Little Brothers and always says that he himself has grown tremendously as a result of the mentoring experience. He says, “I feel it is important to give our children, especially those from less fortunate beginnings, an environment in which they can express their feelings. I know from my seven years as a mentor that Big Brother/Little Brother relationships can provide a solid foundation of trust, which allows all who participate to experience personal growth.” 

In a continuing effort to support mentoring, Creative Golf donates 5% of its gross revenues to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Wake County.

For more information on Creative Golf Team-building Days, or to contact Doug Hodges, please visit www.creative-golfonline.com.