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"FacebookPinterestThere are delicate golf situations&amp;#8212;like the first time you play with your boss or an important client&amp;#8212;that can make anyone nervous. But most of them pale in comparison to the mac daddy of anxiety-ridden rounds: the first golf date. In a short amount of time (four hours&amp;#8212;although if it doesn&amp;#39;t go well, it might feel like four days), your date will be exposed to all your personality traits, even those you&amp;#39;d hoped to keep hidden. There&amp;#39;s no disguising who you really are on the golf course. It can be a moment of great potential. (My last golf date went so well we&amp;#39;re now married with two kids.) Or it can be a disaster (on-course breakups are a real thing). Here are seven tips to ensure it goes smoothly.\n1. Toss out chivalry.\nWomen like a guy to have manners, but there are few female golfers who want to be treated like a delicate flower&amp;#8212;especially on the course. Show her respect, like you would any playing partner, but don&amp;#39;t coddle or try to help her too much. And whatever you do, never give her unsolicited advice on how to play.\n2. Stay neutral all the time.\nDon&amp;#39;t get overly excited when she hits a good shot. It can be misconstrued as condescension. And don&amp;#39;t try to cheer her up when she skulls one into a bunker. She might think you aren&amp;#39;t taking her golf game seriously. Women find hidden messages in everything men say and do. The sooner you learn to deal with that, the faster you&amp;#39;ll find a lasting relationship.\n3. Bring food.\nEveryone knows the way to a man&amp;#39;s heart is through his stomach, but few men realize it&amp;#39;s the same with women&amp;#8212;for different reasons. If you pull out a carefully made peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich on the fourth hole and offer her half, you&amp;#39;re telling her: A) You&amp;#39;re reliable because you plan ahead and can take care of yourself. B) You&amp;#39;re thoughtful, because you made enough to share with her. (But you&amp;#39;re also not presumptuous, because you didn&amp;#39;t make a whole extra sandwich.) c) You&amp;#39;re in touch with your inner child and don&amp;#39;t take yourself too seriously. I think men who eat PB&amp;amp;Js are adorable.\n4. Find a mutual adversary.\nLaughter is key, and nothing builds a bond faster than poking fun at the clueless ranger or the slow-playing guy in the group in front of you wearing capri pants. Use them as running inside jokes with your date. Just don&amp;#39;t be cruel, and keep the barbs to yourselves.\nFacebookPinterest60%\n5. Put your phone away.\nNot because of any course rules, but because it says she matters more than your Twitter feed. It&amp;#39;s OK to pull the phone out to take a date selfie and post it to Instagram&amp;#8212;just don&amp;#39;t use emoticons. Real men never use emoticons.\n6. Don&amp;#39;t flare up, even once.\nYou might think you&amp;#39;re just blowing off a little well-earned steam after a botched tee shot, but the minute she hears you lose your temper, her mind will start racing. In 60 seconds she&amp;#39;ll go from thinking about your troubled childhood to whether you have anger issues to eventually considering life without you as a single parent. And the angrier you react about a crappy shot, the faster she&amp;#39;ll be looking for an escape route.\n7. Tip well.\nNothing says husband potential like a good but discreet tipper. And we notice. Count on it."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.golfdigest.com/story/local-knowledge-golf-dates>