From the Range to the Strategy Table: Why Business Growth is a Lot Like Golf

After wrapping up an intensive Planning Workshop in the Hunter Valley recently, Blake and I decided to decompress at the local driving range. As we swapped our textas and post-it notes for 7-irons, it struck me how much the frustration and finesse of golf mirror the journey of strategy execution.

Whether you are standing on the tee box or sitting at the strategy table, the principles of success are surprisingly similar.

1. Vision: Knowing Your Target

In golf, aimless swinging gets you nowhere. You have to visualise exactly where you want that ball to land before you even take your stance.

Strategic planning serves the same purpose. It strips away the noise and helps leadership teams identify their “North Star” — the outcomes that matter most. Without clarity about the target, organisations can expend enormous effort but still end up scattered across the course.

2. Technique: The Fundamentals Matter

You can have the best clubs in the world, but if your grip is off or your stance is shaky, the result won’t change.

In organisations, the equivalent is execution discipline. Processes, leadership behaviours, accountability and management rhythms are the fundamentals that turn strategy into results. It’s not enough to have a great plan; you need the right technique to translate intention into action.

This is where many strategies falter — not in the planning, but in the follow-through. Without regular review, alignment and adjustment, even the best strategy can drift off course.

3. Adaptation: The Course Always Changes

Golf is a game of constant adjustment. The wind shifts, the terrain changes, and sometimes you find yourself in a bunker you didn’t see coming.

Great organisations operate the same way. They stay focused on the target, but they review progress regularly, learn from each “shot,” and adjust their approach so the next one lands closer to the mark.

Final reflection

Golf can be frustrating, yet very rewarding when focus, technique and timing align. Strategy execution works the same way.

At SpringCo, we call this turning Strategy Into Action — creating the clarity, discipline and review cycles that help organisations move toward their goals.

And like the driving range reminded me that evening in the Hunter, success rarely comes from one perfect swing. It comes from focus, practice, and the commitment to keep getting the next shot closer to the target.

For the record, Blake is an excellent golfer, and I’m still very much the novice — though I did sneak in a fluke 34-foot putt that made the evening even more memorable!

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