Running

head: ANALYZING IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT ON THE GOLF COURSE

Analyzing Impression Management on the Golf Course

Lukas Euler
University of Kentucky

Running head: ANALYZING IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT ON THE GOLF COURSE

Abstract
Impression management deals with the impressions others form of them regarding behavior,
motivation, morality, and other characteristics such as their intelligence and future potential.
This paper provides a deeper view of how playing golf can influence the impression of people
on and off the golf course. It also includes how Thorsten Walter, a state team golf coach in
Germany, had an immense impact on my life. Furthermore, examples will be provided how
coach Walter taught character traits to show appropriate behavior on the golf course as well as
in normal life. Summarizing it shows which fortunes I am able to see now in my character
after developing them at young age in the state golf team.


Running head: ANALYZING IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT ON THE GOLF COURSE

Impression management is very helpful to give you the right idea how to behave properly and
how to create a good image of yourself in society. My golf state team has been very
influential in terms of impression management for me. In particular, my coach Thorsten
Walter has been very influential as he taught us how to behave in the right way and how to
form good images of ourselves in the minds of others. I can create a good impression or a bad
impression based on how I act when I play golf.
As Bobby Jones famously put it, Golf is a game that is played on a five-inch coursethe distance between your ears (year unknown). Golf is a game which forces your mental
strength to the limit. Its not uncommon to see people freaking out on a golf course and
behaving against etiquette, which are the rules how to behave on a golf course. Therefore,
controlling emotions isnt always easy on a golf course and bad behavior can lead to bad
impressions of your personality to others.
According to Rosenfeld, Giacalone and Riordan (1994) impression management refers
to individuals attempts at determining the impression others form of them regarding
behavior, motivation, morality, and other characteristics such as their intelligence and future
potential. In my own words I would define it as which impression of myself I want to leave
in others minds. As I mentioned earlier the impact my team and my coach had on me were
huge. I got into the golf state team when I was 13 years old and it was a big deal for me
because I wasnt used to playing at bigger tournaments or being part of elite state teams in my
age group. Since I was so young I still had to learn a lot and my personality wasnt far

Running head: ANALYZING IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT ON THE GOLF COURSE

developed at that time, so it was a good period in my life to learn how to behave properly and
how to show respect to other people. Creating this change of personality started with very
simple things, but they might not be simple for a 13-year-old; being punctual, dressed
properly for any weather circumstances, having enough food to be able to go through an 8hour practice day. These were things we learned first. It is very important to learn certain
behavior patterns at a young age because it is a lot easier to change them when youre young
compared to being a full-grown adult. As time passed by we learned how to be responsible for
our own actions. We learned how to schedule our days to be efficient when practicing and
still being on top of our school work and furthermore, the fitness part which came up with
being in the state team. It has been the first time in my life of having a fitness coach and doing
specific fitness exercises. I did many different sports in my life like soccer, swimming,
athletics, and golf but I love food. Thats the reason why I was a bit thick for my age. We got
homework from our coach which were fitness exercises and he tested our performance every
four weeks. Therefore, I had to stay on top of that even if I had to do exercises five times a
week, which were not funny. But I got through it and results could be seen on the golf course
as well as off the golf course. This time of my life has been very important to me according to
how I treat my body, how I want my body to look and it was the time where I started to learn
about nutrition. In my opinion this is also an important part of impression management
because your impression includes also how you appear. If you like yourself and your body
you might have more self-confidence when walking around in public. Thats what I have

Running head: ANALYZING IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT ON THE GOLF COURSE

gone through in my life and I recognized for myself how good it feels to be in balance with
my body.
Coming back to the behavior when playing golf, my behavior wasnt horrible but it
was worse than it is now. Screaming some words or throwing a club wasnt unusual but you
certainly cant do that if you represent a program. We had a meeting to talk about it with
coach Walter and the first thing he came up with was the question if being angry or throwing
clubs helps our game to get better. Certainly, thats not the case and I kept that in mind as
well as staying calm and focused. This question he asked had some serious impact on me and
I started realizing the importance of mental strength when it comes to a bad day and
everything is not going how I would like to see it. These were definitely life lessons for me
and I am glad I had them at a young age.
Thorsten Walter is a teaching golf professional at Licher Golfclub in Germany which
is about an hour north of the place where I live. A teaching professional gives golfers advices
and instructions how to improve their games. Coach Walter teaches at his home golf club and
he has been teaching the state team, which is called Hessenkader, for a long decade now.
Next to his activities at Licher Golf-Club Thorsten Walter is also the youth trainer in the
federal state of Hessen, where he has been able to obtain great achievements.(year unknown)
Great achievements were obtained by the state team and by single amateur players. The team
was able to celebrate multiple medals in national championships under coach Walter and also
medals in the national amateur championships were celebrated. Two players who where

Running head: ANALYZING IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT ON THE GOLF COURSE

taught by Walter in their youth turned professional recently and they are now on their way to
make their livings with playing on the main golf tour in Europe.
I can still benefit from coach Walters teaching as I am now representing the program
of the UK golf team and hopefully I will be able to represent myself someday as a own brand
while playing professionally on the PGA Tour. Further than on the golf course coach Walters
teaching gave me some benefits off the golf course as he had also an impact on my
personality. Not only on the golf course but also in life the characteristic of staying calm in
stressful situations helped me a lot and it helps me even more as I am a student at UK now
and stressful situations are part of my daily life.
After talking about how coach Walter changed my personality in the right direction
the question arises why impression management is so important. According to Communicate
For each person, however, our perception becomes our reality. What one person sees, hears,
and interprets is real and considered true to that person.(2014). That means the first
impression of a person is very important because it is not likely for humans to change this
perspective quickly. One bad behavior move of a person can decide for us whether we like
this person or not. According to Dr. Desantis who is a communication professor at the
University of Kentucky a person decides in the first seven seconds if he or she is willing to
get to know the other person better. which is very little time to make yourself an opinion
about someone. It seems like we only think about how someone looks, maybe speaks and how
the person appears. There is no possibility of getting to know the character of a person better
in seven seconds but this time takes our brain to decide a possible partner for us and this

Running head: ANALYZING IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT ON THE GOLF COURSE

example exactly shows how important impression management is because these seven
seconds do not only count for the love life, they also appear when it comes to getting a job or
not. As its famously said you dont get a second chance to make a first impression.
The state golf team I was part of and coach Walter had a severe impact on my life as I
learned how to use my time efficiently, being punctual, learning how to treat my body and
understanding the sense behind knowing myself and knowing which behavior lets me do my
best. I am proud to say that I am still having the same coach 6 years after I started to work
with him and I still benefit from learning the right behavior patterns at young age.

Running head: ANALYZING IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT ON THE GOLF COURSE

References

1. Bobby Jones (year unknown)http://izquotes.com/quote/295139

2. Rosenfeld. P., Giacalone. R. A., & Riordan. C. A. (1994). Impression management
theory and diversity: Lessons for organizational behavior. American Behavioral
Scientist. 37. 601-604.
http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.uky.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=130888b
5-4d7a-4e29-90ab-085db162885a%40sessionmgr120&vid=17&hid=120
3. Licher Golfclub(year unknown)http://www.licher-golf-club.com/Golfschool/7756,en

4. Verderber, K. S., Verderber, R. F., & Sellnow, D. D.

(2014). Communicate! (14th ed.).
Boston, MA: Cengage. ISBN-13: 978-0-8400-2816-7.
5. DeSantis, Alan D. (2008). Communication 101 Lecture Notes.