Perspective from the 19^th Hole is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

I draw this headline having just read a new, good book, The Augusta Principles, which dissects what the Master’s Golf Tournament does that makes it so special.

Which is why I say that, if we followed the Master’s principles in business and politics, not to mention in real life, we’d all be better off.

The author, John Sabino, cites 10 principles that he says dominate the Masters management.  Some of them sound pretty general, but when you read more about them or when you see them in action as I have once (back in 2015 when my daughter and I attended the Masters), they make great sense.

One example:  “Use technology wisely.”

Sure.  Why not?  In the extreme, you wouldn’t set out to use technology unwisely.

Sabin himself has an interesting background.  He blogs about golf and has written two previous books about the sport.  He also survived cancer several years ago, having a bone marrow transplant to treat leukemia.

In this new book, Sabin describes each of the following principles in detail – and, in some of the cases below, I have added a comment of my own.

+  Exercise restraint

+  Focus on the details

+  Don’t be overly commercial

+  Use technology wisely

+  Adopt a mindset of continuous improvement

On this, I wholeheartedly agree.  In organizations where I have worked in my professional career, I went out of my way repeatedly to say this:  There is always room for improvement.  That is true if your organization is doing well.  And, of course, it is true in the inverse.

+  Treat people with respect

Imagine if this were true where you have worked.  It is true that, most of the time if you run a company, your most important product — the people who work for you.

+  Cultivate civility

And, also just imagine if civility were to be the goal in all of our affairs, especially in politics.  In the latter, the reverse now is most often true, especially with the person who sits in the Oval Office.  There, the standard is retaliation and stupidity in over-the-top words. 

As for the word “civility,” I often reflect on one of my favorite political quotes.  It came from the late General Colin Powell when he was encouraged to run for president.  He passed on the chance as he “bemoaned the loss of civility in politics.”  That was more than 20 years ago.  Imagine what he would say today.

+  Be generous

This is one of the Master’s principles that could just as well as apply to the Christian faith.  If we are Christians, the Bible advocates that we be generous in our relationships with the poor and downtrodden.

+  Respect tradition and honor the past

+  Use scarcity to create value

To illustrate this principle, Sabin reports that the Master’s store is open only one week a year and yet it does a land-office business.  Here is the way he puts it:

“Anyone who has attended the Masters and witnessed the lines into the merchandise areas would be hard-pressed to argue that they haven’t found the secret sauce of retailing, combining three special ingredients rarely found together.

“Denying buyers fifty-one weeks of the year creates scarcity and pent-up demand, and a carefully cultivated brand image makes being affiliated with the Masters desirable.

“Those two elements are necessary, but not sufficient to achieve the kind of success the Masters enjoys.  Quality is the final element.  If their merchandise were sub-par, they wouldn’t be the success story they are.”

As I would put it:  If you don’t have much, you treasure what you do have. So, if you get a chance, read the book and apply its lessons beyond the Masters and golf to business and to life.