This past Monday, the 18th Annual Olin Golf Outing was held at Sunset Country Club. With more than 35 foursome teams, the scramble was an unquestionable smash hit. It could not have been done without the great collaborative work among alumni, students, Sunset Country Club staff, and Olin Business School administrators such as Sean Martin.
Second-year MBA classes are not slated to start up again until after Labor Day and with that many of us have found ourselves with quite a lot of free time. With a new found appreciate for this free time, many of us are traveling to Asia, Europe, South America, or even just Chicago. Families are coming to visit for weeks at a time, some from as far away as Romania and China. I am fortunate enough to have some of my family right here in St. Louis and will be spending my time networking.
The Olin Golf Outing was the official kick-off to my networking efforts. I am not a golfer by any stretch of the imagination but this event was not targeting skill, it was targeting relationships. A wonderful breakfast buffet started at 7:30am where I had the pleasure of meeting, among many people, a 1960’s Olin MBA. As the day progressed and the shotgun start launched, more and more business cards were exchanged. In the middle of the day, a strong thunderstorm threatened the tournament but fostered an extended luncheon with many great Olin students of past and present.
When the storm relented, we set back out to finish the course. As luck would have it, this left my team the opportunity to compete in the longest drive competition. I, being the worst player on the team, shot first and promptly sliced my ball into a wooded hillside about 1 yard past the ladies tee. Ryan Maher reared back and ripped his tee shot just left of the fairway. Tom Noel proclaimed that he was going to give it all he had and with that focused every consumed beer calorie on a beautiful drive dead center of the fairway. Tim Liebe, occasionally a man of few words, received a verbal poke from me to let his form break down and really obliterate the ball, and that he did. As we approached the three balls, it was clear that all three had set a new bar for longest drive but Tom had edged out Tim for what would remain the winning drive of the tournament competition.
As we finished the last hole putting us at 15 under par, one of our golf carts was completely out of power. We pushed our way back to the club house bumper to bumper on one cart’s motor, only to find a rowdy bunch of golfers awaiting final scores. The competition was fierce but our score held up by a very small margin and we were awarded first prize. This being my first golf tournament and my first golf tournament win, I must give full credit to my three fellow class of 2014 Olin MBA’s (thank you).
If this experience was any indication of the networking and relationship building to come, I am excited for the next few weeks! Olin offers many great opportunities to meet new people and I am grateful to be a part of such a tremendous tradition.
(Pictured from left to right: John Turner Peters, Ryan Maher, Tim Liebe, Tom Noel)
