An excerpt from A Killer Golf Swing is a Hot Job Skill (WSJ, gated). Excerpt below:

People who can smash 300-yard drives and sink birdie putts are sought-after hires in finance, consulting, sales and other industries, recruiters say. In the hybrid work era, the business golf outing is back in a big way. 

Executive recruiter Shawn Cole says he gets so many requests to find ace golfers that he records candidates’ handicaps, an index based on average number of strokes over par, in the information packets he submits to clients. Golf alone can’t get you a plum job, he says—but not playing could cost you one.

I get it. I don’t like it.

How much great talent is out in the labor market? Lots.

How much of it plays golf? Who knows.. my guess, not as much as I might imagine.

What is the relationship between skill and knowledge acquisition and golf? My theory is it’s weak.

If my guesses are true, then why would we place such a premium on golf?

Golf might be a channel for skilled connectors to generate or keep business.

I suppose, now in defense of the article, it’s like entertainment. If you’re going to make it in the music industry, you’re going to supply to your market what they demand from you. BIlly Joel is always going to play “Piano Man,” and Norah Jones might always play “Don’t Know Why” — it’s what the people want to hear.

Doing anything in service of people requires that the servant know their markets demand so that they supply the right type of work — that’s work that matters.

I reasoned myself out of hating the article.