Are you one of those golfers that would love to play more golf but can’t figure out how to sell your spouse on the idea? Well here is some good advice that has been proven to work and it may work for you as well. The beauty of it is that it can even help your relationship overall. There really are some ways to play a little more golf and not get in the doghouse.
I am not going to promise that by following this advice you will be able to play as much as you want because that would be false advertising, but you can play more and remain guilt free. And you might start finding golf on your “to do” list.
The first thing that you need to do is park your ego and any macho attitude that you may have and take a more friendly approach. You may have to tell a white lie once in a while, sincerity is key.
They Are More Important Than Golf
Assure your spouse is far more important than golf. Tell them that if they asked you to you would sell your clubs but jokingly add that you would resent them forever for it if really came to fruition.
Find Out What Their Passion Is
This is good information that you really do need to know for a number of reasons. Whatever it is, even if it’s spending hours in the mall shopping, tell your spouse you would never stop them from doing that. If it turns out that it is cooking or baking then encourage them to take lessons. Whatever the passion is, encourage it. You can always hope it is baking so there could be a cake waiting when you finish playing golf.
Involve The Friends
Study their friends and pitch ideas for them to spend a day out. Encourage your spouse to do things with their friends that they all enjoy.
Learn to Give a Massage
Learn to give a great massage and give your spouse a fifteen minute massage when you get home from playing golf. They will start looking forward to you playing more.
Never Back Out
Under no circumstances whatsoever can you ever back out of anything (especially if it was scheduled and you squeezed a round in) because you are tired, upset, depressed, etc. from playing golf. In other words, save some energy for the relationship!
Learn, Compromise, and Negotiate
Men and women generally view these two differently. Men interpret negotiation as creating a situation where you come out with something both parties can live with. Women tend to view negotiation as just not getting everything they wanted. Do not open a negotiation.
Simply find out what the important things are and then make sure you do them. It’s called building brownie points which is always a good idea. The only problem with this is that you can burn up all your points on something totally unrelated to golf, like trying to convince them that you are right about something or trying to win an argument.
Invoke Sympathy
You must use this one sparingly because it only works if used occasionally. Tell them that you are bummed out about work or it is some dead relative’s birthday or something to invoke their sympathy and it would help a lot if you could go play a little golf to help you feel better.
If you take all these to heart and work them all into the mix, you should be able to get out to the links more often without being viewed as useless around the house and deserving of their anger.
If all else fails, then you might try getting your spouse interested in golf. Playing with your spouse is better than not playing at all.
In extreme conditions and as a last resort, you can get a job traveling. They may get used to you being gone and won’t even notice you playing golf.
Hopefully these tips will enable you to spend a little more time on the course guilt free and stay out of the doghouse.